


Scattered

by Faefauna



Category: ONF (Band)
Genre: (might get nsfw elements), Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Angst, Fantasy AU, First Meetings, Fluff, Hunted, M/M, Magic Powers, Mention of blood, Mention of wounds, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating Might Change, Seeking Shelter, Strangers, dragonborns (not skyrim or dnd...), human form&beast form, human/(half)beast relationship, mention of injury, pov switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:28:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27595507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faefauna/pseuds/Faefauna
Summary: Fate is cunning sometimes, letting you come face to face with the things you like the least.After running through the forest, trying to escape certain death. They found themselves hiding in a barn, hoping to stay low. They thought they finally made it, until they heard the barn door open.
Relationships: Kim Hyojin/Lee Seungjun | J-Us, Lee Changyoon | E-Tion/Park Minkyun | MK
Comments: 18
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

His breath was heavy, his heart raced against his chest, his muscles hurt, but he had to keep going.  
The moon shone bright, giving them ample light to see their path as they rushed through the trees. Changyoon could see blood coming from the figure in front of him, the brown scales on his hips were tainted with a crimson colour and he was slowing down quickly, they had had to be fast and find shelter.

“They went left here, through the trees!” A man shouted as a dog barked in their direction. 

Yuto’s wound made it easy for their hounds to track them, but they had no way to fix that right now. Jumping over roots, avoiding branches and keeping an eye on each other, they tried to make their way through the forest. 

Yuto was doing progressively worse, blood gushing out of his wound as he twisted his torso to run. Eventually he tripped on a root and fell, making Changyoon dodge to the side. Jaeyoung instantly jumped in and picked Yuto off the ground, he was strong enough to carry the younger, so they could set off again quickly. Changyoon took the lead, taking them further along into the dense forest. Jaeyoung followed him closely, still carrying Yuto who held his wound close in an attempt to staunch his bleeding. Seungjun stayed back, like he always did as he phased through the multiple branches and sticks the others had to avoid. 

“Here!” the man shouted again. They weren’t going to get rid of their hunters anytime soon. So Changyoon got an idea. 

“Jaeyoung,” he said, out of breath, “give me a part of Yuto’s shirt.”

“Wait-”

“No, just give me.”

Without arguing back he ripped a part of Yuto’s blood stained shirt as he ran and handed it over.

“Keep going,” Changyoon ordered, “We’ll meet near the lake at the west side of the forest.” 

With that, Changyoon slowed his pace and took a ninety degree turn, setting off on a different route. He quickly heard the dog bark from a still spot, it had gotten confused. Changyoon stopped for a bit, making himself the closest blood scent. He caught his breath, god, how did they get here?

It started as just any normal day. They did their daily routine, doing regular tasks within the tribe, playing with the kids and being scolded by the elders whenever Seungjun pulled pranks again. Phasing was definitely hand picked for him it seems, giving a natural trickster the power to evade anything just seemed like a sick joke to torture the others. But he was born with it, they were all born with their own respective ability. While it made daily life more fun, it was definitely never easy. They were from a long line of dragonborn, although their appearance was more human. The closest they could look to a dragon were their ‘forms’. A form in which scales appeared on parts of the skin, wings sprouted out of their back, their hands and feet would turn into those of dragons, just like the tails that grew from the lower part of their spine, and their eyes became a fierce colour. The colour of their scales and eyes gave away what type they were. Or rather, what they would get in trouble for. Like when Yuto manipulated a wrong part of a rock mountain and nearly crushed Seungjun, if only he didn’t phase through the boulder in time. Or when Jaeyoung stretched himself, accidentally flipping his scales up and ripping through his clothes. He also often picked up things too fast, almost throwing them away. Changyoon managed to keep out of trouble relatively well, because he almost never used his abilities, he had his reasons not to.  
Normally they would get classes and training to learn to deal with their transformations and abilities but the clan had been shrinking, hunters got to them more and more often. With new technology and them taking control of more nature, their places to take shelter were becoming sparse but they couldn’t hide among people, they weren’t accustomed to society life and would be found out. So they stayed in the forest, hoping to outrun them someday. 

Humans are either scared or curious of things they don't understand. And maybe them being curious was more scary. Being taken to a place and subjected to the will of a human wanting to know what you were made of, might be worse than death. With their hunting, they had learned what dragonborns were made of and how to counter most of them. They didn’t even come with many, but they came with equipment. Multiple different weapons, fireproof clothes, armored vehicles, shields, anything to protect themselves. Ruthlessly they ran down their small tribe that was, by now, just made up of quickly set up cloths and sticks they managed to salvage from their last escape. They thought they would have been safe for at least a few weeks, but it was not even three days before the humans caught up. This time they snuck up on them. 

Their dragonborn tribe being with so little, the defences had weakened. The few that weren’t injured took turns sleeping. It was near midnight when Jaeyoung had come rushing to Changyoon’s tent telling him there was an ambush, he woke Seungjun up and ran off to find Yuto who had a guarding shift. The others were rushing around, picking up the children, scouring for food or just running off on their own. With so many tribe members already dead, the unity had faded. Yuto was fighting, pulling the earth up to make barriers, but the humans surrounded him, a knife was drawn, followed by a cry from their youngest friend. Jaeyoung had instantly tackled one of the humans, set out his scales, creating sharp blades on his arms, and tried to cut through the heavy armor. It at least turned the other two aggressors away from Yuto. Seungjun ran around, grabbed Yuto and set off into the forest. Seeing that the others made it out, Jaeyoung jumped back up and dodged the incoming attacks with ease. He went past, and took Changyoon with him to chase after the others.

Now, catching his breath with a blood stained piece of fabric, he saw the same humans coming closer. Some hunters had taken a different route earlier, but the two chasing the group previously, were now after Changyoon, their hound leading the way. After making sure they were solely focused on him, Changyoon continued his run. He knew a place nearby that had a steep jump in surface level he could climb, to disappear and leave Yuto’s scent behind. His energy started to deplete, they had been on the run for a while now, with minimal sleep at night, so he couldn't keep this sprint up for as long as usual. A leaf brushed past his face, waking him up again somewhat. An up close, loud snarl made his heart fasten, the hound was catching up. Finding new strength he lowered himself, trying to find extra speed. 

“He’s alone, where are the others?!” The man was a lot further away now, they were definitely not as fast as dragonborn, only their vehicles kept up with them, but they couldn't navigate the forest easily. “Find the others!” 

Hearing that, Changyoon looked behind him. He shouldn’t have. A branch hit the back of his head and he stumbled for a bit, the hound jumped and bit Changyoon’s arm, dragging him to the dirt. With a loud thud he hit the ground, spraining his ankle on the way. The hound locked its jaw, looking at Changyoon with hunters eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to hit the creature. He, instead, pinched the creature's nose hard, but it held on, as if it was brainwashed to keep its teeth around Changyoon’s arm. The outer part of his arm was protected by scales, but the inner part was still soft flesh and it started to bleed. 

He tried to get up, carrying the weight of the creature as he continued. But having such a big being hanging off your arm definitely didn’t make it easy to run and the sounds of motorbikes got closer, the humans had switched out their armored car for cross motors and they caught up quickly. One of the men drove against Changyoon’s leg and drove over him as he fell to the ground again. The rubber burned over the scales on his back and ripped part of his wing. He cried out as he felt the leather skin tear. The wings already couldn’t carry him well, now they were too injured to tuck them back in. He scuffled back up before the man got off his bike. At least the aggression of the loud motorbike rushing past made the hound let go. Biting through the pain, Changyoon ran further. 

He finally made it to where he knew he could get rid of them, a fairly big mountain that was hard to climb for any creature without claws. He ran towards it and started climbing, the only downside to this path was that it was almost completely exposed. Gunshots flew past him, hitting the rocks next to him, some chafed his legs, one hit his back but was luckily blocked by his thick scales covering his spine. Like a spider, he climbed alongside the ridge of the stone covered incline and made his way up, moderately unscathed. 

With one more look back, he saw the hound and its owners scan the ridge, hoping for a way up. Even with them having no route to chase Changyoon with, he didn't feel safe. He dropped the cloth he had been holding on to. The shouting of the men grew faint as Changyoon ran further, taking a roundabout way to the lake, hoping his friends were alright and waiting for him. With only three of them, and one being wounded, they could be caught easily.

Seeing the water, he slowed his pace, he couldn't find the others. He crept closer, hiding in the tall grass, scared that there were humans nearby that caught them. He scanned the lake and saw something sparkle, one of Jaeyoung’s silver scales. He hoped it was a hint, as it was very carefully placed in between four rocks, a little too perfect to be an accident. It hurt ripping out scales, but Jaeyoung was different. 

Changyoon followed the way the scale pointed towards, trying to keep a straight path as he jogged along the lake. He found another one stuck to a tree, taking a right to find another after running for a while. This scale pointed to the right and he found himself on the edge of the forest, looking over a small barn field. He saw Seungjun sitting behind a barn, he waved as soon as he saw Changyoon and phased through the barn door, back inside. Sadly, Changyoon had to find the long way around, he saw a little window on the side and made his way to the big building, quickly sprinting along the vast fields, ready for harvest. He used his claws to dig into the wood and climbed through the high window. His muscles were tired, but knowing this would be the final hurdle he pushed through.

Forgetting his injuries, he jumped down and spread his wings, an instant bolt of pain rushed through him, he lost his balance and fell onto the hard concrete layered with some hay. The loud crash set off some of the animals inside and they became restless. The few horses housed in these stables started kicking against the door. As if this happened before, Seungjun went to ease them down, making multiple shushing sounds and giving them more hay to feed on.

“Dude, be careful,” Jaeyoung cut himself off as he saw Changyoons state. “Wat happened?!” He got up and rushed to help. 

“They caught up to me for a bit,” Changyoon groaned as he got helped back up, "but I’m pretty sure they lost me.”

“Okay, that’s good-” Jaeyoung’s eyes widened. The stable door opened. 

'This was it then,' Changyoon thought to himself. Two of them were heavily injured and they were trapped in a building with little ways out. He held his heart and counted his options as a bright flashlight shone inside. All of them froze. 

Seungjun stood next to the horses, having failed to calm them down. Yuto was sitting against the wall, clutching his waist, pressing on the stab wound with Jaeyoung’s shirt. And Changyoon stood on the other side, supported by Jaeyoung, underneath the window. With the light in their eyes, they couldn’t see who was shining at them. Changyoon loosened out of Jaeyoung’s hold, ignoring his pains, and rushed towards the light, tackling the figure holding it. He went to get ready to swipe his claws along a heavily armored guy. But he stopped. There was no armor, only soft fabrics, and having the flash out of his vision he saw that he wasn’t sitting on top of a hunter. A random dude with black fluffy hair and a shocked expression stared back at him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Changyoon said in a panic and he tried to get back up, not feeling his fight or flight response anymore he noticed his wounds again, a bolt of pain ran through his leg and he buckled back down on top of the robust figure.

“Minkyun!” someone yelled to the left of him. 

Changyoon looked up. A slimmer guy with red hair came running towards them, quickening his pace and nearly drop-kicking Changyoon, making him roll to his side and cry out in pain. His vision went hazy for a bit, the pain and chaos made him nearly pass out. He saw Seungjun run out the barn and crouch next to him as his defence. Jaeyoung was presumably doing the same inside, keeping an eye on Yuto. 

“Are you alright? You seem hurt,” the guy, presumably called Minkyun, asked. 

Changyoon looked at him and he seemed genuinely concerned, not fearful or aggressive like most humans would. 

The red headed guy picked Minkyun off the ground and pushed him behind him. “Leave,” he ordered the group. “Before we call someone.”

“Hyojin, do you see the state he is in?” Minkyun asked, pointing at Changyoon struggling to get up, “no way he can just leave safely.”

“They aren’t staying here-”

“Guys,” Jaeyoung said, panicked, sticking his head out of the barn, “Yuto passed out.”

Seungjun muttered a cuss. 

“It’s fine, check up on him,” Changyoon spurred, so Seungjun ran through the door. 

Jaeyoung stayed in the doorframe, wanting to keep an eye on the situation outside. Battling the pain, Changyoon got up. "You go inside too," he told Jaeyoung, "get him out, we have to go."

“Bring him inside,” Minkyun stated, “the cold isn’t going to do him any better.”

“What? No, let them leave, get them away.” Hyojin made a shooing motion towards Changyoon as if he was an unwanted stray cat. “They are goddamn dragonborn, they’ll kill us.”

“If they were out to kill, he would’ve done so when he got the chance just now.” Minkyun persisted.

"Then take them to your house, if you die it's your fault."

"Jin, please help me, you're better at medical things." Minkyun whined. 

Hyojin wanted to say something back again but he fell silent when Jaeyoung came walking out with the small, blood stained, frame of Yuto in his arms. Even in the soft moonlight you could see he was awfully pale. 

"Alright, come with us," Hyojin gave in and turned around, walking towards the main house.

"No," Seungjun interrupted, "we'll figure something out."

"How?" Jaeyoung bit, "Yuto is bleeding out and Changyoon can barely walk, are you insane?"

"It was them who did this to us, and now you want to go with them?" Seungjun asked stubbornly as he pointed towards the human duo.

"We have no other choice, do we?" Without waiting for an answer Jaeyoung walked towards the redhead and followed him to the house.

"Why would they help us?" Seungjun said to himself in a small voice.

"It'll be alright, Jun," Changyoon tried to calm him down, "we can fight them off when something happens, they don't seem armed."

Seungjun looked distrustingly at Minkyun but joined them while he hung one of Changyoon's arms over his shoulder to support him.

They moved to a simple but big looking house connected to the barn by a gravely path. The structure looked old from the outside, it had definitely been here for multiple generations. Stepping inside, the interior was old-timey and cosy. Wooden planks with small souvenirs decorated the walls of the mostly brown and red furnished living room. 

"Lay him down on the kitchen table," Hyojin said, gesturing to Jaeyoung to move to the next room, "Kyun, get a cloth with some disinfectant and clean the yellow scaled one's wounds," he then ordered.

Changyoon, knowing he was 'the yellow scaled one', giving he was the only one out of them with fiery yellow and gold scales, stayed put. Not wanting to leave Changyoon alone, Seungjun stayed in the living room as well. Minkyun came back with a white box and some wet fabric.

"Come, sit down," Minkyun said cheerfully and settled on the big red, leather sofa. 

Changyoon looked to the kitchen door before he went to sit. Jaeyoung had left the door open, so Changyoon could see the redhead bow himself over Yuto's body while giving orders to the bulky, silver scaled guy next to him. 

"Can I touch you?" Minkyun asked when Changyoon sat next to him.

Changyoon felt a bit defensive having a human so close but he had no other option so he nodded. Scrunching his eyes, Changyoon readied himself for pain that was about to come. Still, it hurt. He had trouble keeping quiet. He bit his lip as the sting of the alcohol came into contact with his wound.

"What happened to you guys?" Minkyun asked as a distraction.

"Your kind caught up to us," Seungjun shot before Changyoon could speak. 

The hostile tone made Minkyun nervous. "I'm sorry," he muttered. 

Seungjun scoffed and tapped the armrest of his big chair. 

"Are there any more then?" Minkyun asked carefully to fill the silence, "From your group I mean."

"No," Changyoon said through groans, just to keep Seungjun from biting more words. "Most got hunted down." He didn’t know if any were alive, and he wasn’t going to relay information about their potential whereabouts.

"I…," Minkyun wasn't sure what to say.

"It's alright," Changyoon assured.

Minkyun decided to change the subject. "How are we going to bandage your… wing? It won’t work if we just wrap something around it, the skin will just bend." 

"Just put a piece of bandage along the bottom," Seungjun said as if it was obvious. 

With the constant verbal attacks, Minkyun was now definitely nervous. He got up and walked off to get tape.

"Can't you be a little nicer? They are helping us," Changyoon asked his annoyed friend.

"I don't care, I don't trust them, and I know you don’t too."

"Well your constant awful tone is getting on my nerves even more, go see if you can help with Yuto's treatment." 

“Fine,” Seungjun sighed and set off to the kitchen. 

Minkyun stopped in his tracks for a bit as Seungjun walked past him and shot him a glare.

“I’m sorry for his behaviour,” Changyoon apologized.

“It’s alright, you’ve been through a lot.”

At least Minkyun seemed a lot more relaxed with Seungjun out of the room, he sat next to Changyoon again. 

“Can you spread your wings?”

Changyoon tried to, but it was nearly unresponsive, it was so heavily bruised that even the slightest movement felt like torture. Seeing Changyoon struggle to keep his wing up, Minkyun ran off again, taking his time in a room in the back. In the meantime, Changyoon got some of the bandage and disinfectant and treated the other injuries he could reach himself. 

“Here, this might work,” Minkyun came back with a proud smile. 

The grin turned his fairly intense eyes soft and he had dimples in his cheeks. But Changyoon instantly grew weary of what the other was holding. It looked more like a trap. It was a weird amalgamation of rope and a stick. 

“Get up,” Minkyun said, excited to try out whatever he created.

Changyoon followed the order and stood up. “What is that?” he asked.

“A brace. We can’t exactly go to the hospital, so I tried to make something to support your wing. Spread your arms.”

Minkyun draped the harness around Changyoon. Two of the ropes ran around his chest and were kept up by a rope over his shoulder. The stick was held up, and in place, with more rope leading back to the harness around his chest. “Where do you even get all this from?” Changyoon wondered, wanting to know what else the humans could have. 

“Oh you don’t want to know what’s in the backroom. There is so much random crap there, not even Hyojin wants to try and sort it all out," Minkyun said with a giggle and bent over to get the tape. 

Ever so carefully he lifted Changyoons wing to align it with the stick. He stared at the big dragon wings, now spread out, it was almost twice the length of an arm and it looked intimidating. 

“Is everything alright?” Changyoon asked the frozen guy in front of him, feeling weird being stared at.

“Huh?” Minkyun shook his head to get himself out of the trance. “Yeah, it just looks really cool.”

Changyoon wasn’t really comfortable getting compliments about this appearance. He stayed silent as Minkyun taped his wing to the stick and also finished up the treatment of the tear by covering it with a piece of bandage and more tape.

“Is everything else alright?” Minkyun asked, inspecting Changyoon further.

“Yeah." Changyoon moved about to test his body. “Everything else seems fine. Thank you for this.” He pointed at the weird contraption holding his wing. It sure felt a lot better not having it hanging limp alongside his body.

“Aren’t you cold?” Minkyun then asked. 

Their tribe clothes were made for their transformation. Their backs had two slits for wings and their pants were fitted fairly low so their tails could grow over the edge. But with the chase through the forest, most of the fabric had been torn and cut, leaving little on his body.

“Hm, slightly, but I can’t really wear any other shirt,” Changyoon said in jest. 

Minkyun left the room yet again.

Changyoon tried to stop him. “No wait, you have done enough-” 

He was purposefully ignored as Minkyun ran up the stairs connected to the living room.  
The voices in the kitchen were getting incrementally louder, so Changyoon went to check.

“If you’re gonna be like that, then leave already! It’s not like I’m that keen on keeping a bunch of monsters here!” the redhead shouted.

“What do you mean ‘monsters’?” Seungjun bit back in an offended tone.

“Someone that is covered in weird purple scales and has damn wings I wouldn’t call ‘human’. So get out.”

“Oh, I’ll gladly leave but the others seem so dumb as to trust you guys,” Seungjun argued aggressively. 

Jaeyoung looked lost and incredibly done with the other two as he spoke up. “Please just quit fighting. Seungjun, the faster you shut your mouth the quicker Yuto can get treated,” he growled. 

“Go outside, you’re distracting me,” Hyojin added.

Seungjun rolled his eyes and turned around to phase through the wall. A short, high scream coming from behind made Changyoon jump. He looked back and saw Minkyun clutching his heart, clearly spooked seeing someone just walk through a wall. Seungjun paid no mind to it and sat back on the chair he was in before.

“How is he doing?” Changyoon asked, moving further into the kitchen.

“Alright,” Jaeyoung answered, “but he won’t wake up. He did lose a lot of blood. As long as he doesn’t get a fever tonight he should be fine.”

“That’s good at least,” Changyoon sighed and thought of their next plan of action. “I can go scout for a cave or other hideout near here," he suggested, "we should be able to lay low for a little while.”

“You guys can stay here,” Minkyun shrugged and draped a blanket he found over Changyoon's shoulder for warmth.

“What?! No!” Hyojin raised his voice again and Seungjun joined in from the living room. “We are not staying here,” he agreed

While Changyoon definitely didn’t like the pissed off tone they both had, he did agree they shouldn’t overstay their welcome. “You guys have done enough for us.”

“No, please, I insist. Stay for at least a couple days," Minkyun tried to convince, "you can’t move well with the brace and we should keep him… Yuto was his name? We should keep Yuto warm.”

Changyoon was hesitant, Seungjun and Hyojin both seemed to despise each other's company. Jaeyoung seemed also uncertain but Yuto indeed needed to be protected. Changyoon also wasn’t sure what to think of Minkyun, he seemed friendly and genuine, but Changyoon had seen what humans could do and Minkyun being so amazed by his appearance before made him anxious. 

“Let’s stay,” Jaeyoung suggested, “it’s safer.”

“Definitely not!” Seungjun insisted.

“Jun stop being selfish," Jaeyoung bit back immediately, "I know you don’t trust them but think rationally.”

Seeing everyone be against him, Seungjun let a bothered breath escape. “Fine, but we’ll take turns sleeping."

Hyojin cleaned up the last of the tools he used for treatment and turned towards his friend. “Kyun, where are you even going to house four creatures? If you keep them in the stables they’ll disturb the horses again.”

"We're not going to throw guests in the stables!" Minkyun answered.

"Are you keeping them in the house?!"

"Yeah that was my idea." 

"Alright, you know what," Hyojin put his hands up, "I'm just... going to go back to sleep. It's 3am and I'm done arguing." Without saying anything else, he walked past everyone and went out of the house.

"He doesn't live here?" Jaeyoung asked, seeing the red head leave.

"This is the main house, I sleep here. Hyojin stays here during most of the day, but his actual house is the other small building on the property." Minkyun informed before turning towards Jaeyoung. "I have a guest room and my bedroom. I'll sleep on the couch here. So the injured ones can sleep on a proper bed. And since your friend insists on guarding, you'll only have to guard the stairs." 

“Sure,” Seungjun said quickly, “I guess that’s a fair option, _if_ we have to stay.” 

“Let me show you upstairs then,” Minkyun invited. 

Jaeyoung carefully got Yuto off of the table and followed Seungjun and Minkyun up the stairs. With his brace and wing sticking out, Changyoon had to awkwardly shuffle through the doorposts and go almost sideways up the stairs.

After Minkyun showed them the rooms he had, they decided they would keep Yuto in the guest room with the smaller bed and Changyoon would take Minkyun's room, since it had a two person bed and Changyoon needed the space so his wing wouldn't hang off the side. Given that the night was too short to have them all rotate a guarding shift, they just decided that only Jaeyoung and Seungjun would switch; to give Changyoon a good night rest to recover quicker. Minkyun laid a few blankets on the ground in the guest room for Jaeyoung to sleep on, saying he would find a mattress tomorrow. Seungjun took the first shift. They wished each other goodnight and Minkyun went back down to continue his sleep, this time on the sofa. 

So much happened tonight. Being alone and in silence, Changyoon’s brain could catch up. He really lost even more people this time, you couldn’t even call it a ‘tribe’ anymore, just him and his friend-group. He sighed, his eyelids were heavy but the uncertainty of the situation kept him awake. He tossed around, thinking about what they should do next. He cursed his wing for being bruised. It was dangerous being outside with no way of transforming back and blending in somewhat. And even if he could go back he had no idea when Yuto would wake up, nor where they would go after that. Being with so few, it would be hard to survive. Running out of ideas, his mind went silent, finally creating the opportunity to fall asleep, and he did so almost instantly. 

\-----------------------------

Changyoon got woken up by the clinking of plates on the lower floor. His muscles were stiff and his wing still hurt. He got up and went to check up on Yuto. He was still asleep and Seungjun slumbered next to him on the ground. Walking down the hallway he found Jaeyoung sitting at the top of the stairs. His extra features had disappeared and you couldn’t tell him apart from other humans anymore, especially not with the new, human, outfit he was wearing. He just looked like your average bulky guy.

“Good morning,” Changyoon said in a raspy voice.

“Ah, ‘morning Yoon. How are you feeling?”

“Fine, better than yesterday, and you?”

“Alright, I’m a little tired but I’ll stay here," Jaeyoung said as he stretched his body, "Seungjun will be pissed if I leave.”

“Yeah true. Where is Minkyun?”

“Somewhere in the kitchen, he came to say hello and asked if I wanted to eat, but I wanted to wait for you guys to wake up. He also left some clothes out for us to change into. I put them in the guest room, see what fits. He did ask not to rip them so maybe keep your own shirt.”

Changyoon smiled and went to change his pants and shimmied down the narrow staircase. It wasn’t harder or easier to keep either his dragon or human form, but he sure wished he could switch, even if it was just to make navigating the house easier. He greeted Minkyun who was setting the table. In turn he was greeted by a small brown dog, it growled at Changyoon.

"Somang, stop that," Minkyun shushed the dog and it instantly listened.

"It's alright." Changyoon understood that the dog would be weary of him, especially in his current state. "I didn’t see them yesterday. Is it yours?"

"She's outside at night to guard. She is a pretty poor guard dog, as you might have noticed, she had no clue you were here, the horses woke us up. But she is cute and tries her best so I let her."

"So you got a guard dog that can't guard? At Least she is cute," Changyoon mumbled. The hounds looked a lot more ruthless and large so he didn't feel frightened by this small dog.

"We didn't buy her, I found her a few years back and took her in," Minkyun hummed, "anyway did you sleep well?"

“Yeah. Thank you for letting us stay over,” Changyoon said briefly.

“Well I couldn’t just let someone bleed out.”

“Hyojin seemed fine with it.”

“Hyojin is Hyojin.”

“What does that mean?”

“I get where he is coming from," Minkyun explained vaguely before continuing, "it helps to have him around on the farm, he is more on the business and organization side, but he sure has a stick up his ass sometimes”-he set some things for breakfast on the table-“Don’t mind him too much and make yourself comfortable.”

“Uh sure. Also, I’m sorry for scaring the horses," Changyoon apologized before he could forget, "I fell through the window.”

“You fell from that height?" Minkyun looked concerned. "No wonder your wing is bruised.”

“Well I fell from the window because my wing was hurt already.”

“What even happened yesterday? How did they find you?-”

“‘Morning Kyun,” Hyojin chimed from the front door. “Oh, you guys are awake too?”

“Good morning,” Changyoon answered, “Only me and Jaeyoung are. Seungjun and Yuto are still asleep, Jaeyoung is guarding them.”

“Hm, alright, it’s good to see you are alive still," the redhead told his friend, scanning him for any injuries the others might have caused in the night, “also you"-Hyojin turned towards Changyoon-“can’t you switch to a human form?”

“I can, but not with an immobile wing.”

Hyojin looked notably displeased with that information and went to sit down at the table, starting on his breakfast.

"Do you even eat this? Or are you going to murder our chickens later?" Hyojin scoffed.

"Maybe I will, at least I know my food isn’t poisoned then," Seungjun said, wandering through the wall, making Minkyun jump again.

"Jun, no need to pretend to be cool," Changyoon sighed, "you'll die if you eat raw chicken. Look, Hyojin, we are just like humans but have a different form, that's the easiest way to see it. We eat the same, sleep the same, live just as long."

"Yeah, a human doesn't have bright yellow scales everywhere."

"Alright, currently I'm a bad example. But you couldn't tell Seungjun apart," Changyoon said, pointing at the-now human looking-blond that had settled at the table as well. 

Just to mute Changyoon's point for fun, Seungjun flickered his eyes between their human brown look and the dragonborn purple version when he locked them with Hyojin. 

"Yeah, looks human to me," Hyojin said sarcastically, "it's not that I'm afraid or don't understand your kind, I just don't like it," he told Changyoon, "a wolf can be as friendly as possible, but it's still a wild animal."

"Fine," the other gave up, "anyway, about how we ended up at your barn," he continued to Minkyun, "we had recently arrived at a new spot after being chased away from the previous. We thought we'd be safe for a while but they caught up quickly."

"How?" Minkyun asked again.

"Hounds," Changyoon shrugged, "many of us were injured so I guess it was easy to find us using the scent of blood? Since they always have canines with them, or it might be some other technology I don't understand."

Luckily the others stayed quiet to let Changyoon tell his story. He quickly summarized the previous night. Explaining how Yuto got his injury, the equipment the humans carried and how they made it to the farm. When he explained how he got his own injuries, how the humans ran over him, Seungjun interrupted.

"That's what happened?!" Seungjun said shocked, “I knew I should’ve stopped you from leaving. That could’ve gone so bad.”

“They would’ve caught up to all of us otherwise, which might have only turned out worse. I’m still alive so it's fine.”

“How did you shake them off then?” Seungjun questioned.

“I went to that place we climbed once when scouting? The one you fell down?”

“Oh yeah that, I guess they couldn’t climb that with bikes and dogs. Smart.”

"Damn," Minkyun said, "sounds like a lot, you couldn't fight them? Or fly away?"

"They attacked harder than we could. And we tried to fly before but they have guns and shoot some of us out of the air pretty easily. Also our wings aren't made for continuous flight, they aren't that strong. It's more short bursts and gliding."

Minkyun looked at the brace around Changyoons shoulders. "How is your wing by the way?"

"Fine, better. I think it needs a day."

"A day?' Minkyun asked, surprised, "it was really bruised."

"Yeah, but we heal fairly quick."

"Another thing that isn't human," Hyojin mumbled

"Jin, aren't you done eating?" Minkyun said, trying to get the buggy redhead away, “go work.”

"We don't have that much to do today, you let the horses out and I’ll go do some groceries," Hyojin said before he walked off.

"Yessir."

They finished their breakfast and helped clean up, Seungjun made a small meal to bring with him to Jaeyoung.

"Say, Seungjun," Minkyun started a bit hesitant as the blond was ready to head upstairs, "can you touch things?" 

Changyoon started to snicker and the one questioned looked baffled. He had no idea how to react to such a statement. So Seungjun just looked at him and showed the plate he was holding, clearly touching something.

"Maybe it's just for big objects," Minkyun shrugged as if his question was still valid. Still staring at him, Seungjun extended his arm, placing a palm on the wall.

"Well, alright then," Minkyun agreed. 

Nodding, and still looking heavily confused, Seungjun phased through the wall he was touching previously and headed up.

"Man, how does that work?" Minkyun said in amazement, "can you do that?!" he turned to Changyoon.

"Nope," he answered with a pop. "We all have our own things. He can phase through anything and make objects he's holding do the same."

"What can you do then? Show me!" Minkyun requested gleefully.

“Maybe some other day,” Changyoon shrugged, but he would probably never show it if he didn’t have to. He was too scared of what could happen.

Trying to fill the sudden awkward silence, Minkyun suggested Changyoon join him on his short routine. Even after the other said he knew nothing about horses, Minkyun insisted.

“I don’t know if I should even go outside looking like this,” Changyoon gestured to himself, “in broad daylight.”

“It’s fine, no one can see the stables from afar, we aren’t expecting any visitors and no one ever comes here randomly.”

“Alright, fine then," Changyoon gave in, not wanting to be rude by refusing to work, "I guess.”

Changyoon followed Minkyun outside, he didn't want to deal with Seungjun's nagging again so he just chose to not inform them of his whereabouts. Walking with a human to the stables they used to hide from other humans, felt weird, and he unconsciously grew nervous.

"Do you have training academies?" Minkyun asked on the way to the stables, Somang followed close behind, her small nails tapping over the stones on the path.

“No.”

“What can Yuto do then? And Jaeyoung?" Minkyun asked, trying to keep the conversation going. But the invasive questions mainly made Changyoon feel apprehensive.

"It's nice that you are curious,” he said politely, “but I’m not sure how comfortable the others are with me sharing that. If you want to know, ask them."

“Yeah, understandable. Sorry I asked.”

“No it’s alright, it’s nothing major.”

The interest Minkyun showed made Changyoon more nervous than flattered, he fell silent. He looked up and a breeze ran through his blond-tipped, brown hair. Halting his pace and taking a deep breath, he looked around him. They were surrounded by a mountain valley. He hadn't seen such big open space in a while, the past year they had been cooped up in dense forests and caves so this felt liberating. There wasn't a huge amount of land that seemed to belong to Minkyun, the fence marking the edge wasn't far. But it was laid atop a big hill that looked down on a small town. Luckily far enough to not have anyone come close to spotting them, making him feel safe enough to walk outside with his dragon-like appearance. While the town was visible from the fields, the road leading to it was quite roundabout and would be a long walk. 

"Admiring the view?" Minkyun said softly.

Changyoon hummed, feeling a tad emotional as he was relaxed for the first time in so long. 

"Come, the horses are hungry," Minkyun spurred and set off towards the stables again.

With a harsh pull, Minkyun opened the door, making small whinnies and patters rumble up in the stables. The horses seemed very excited to see their owner as Minkyun went to pet them and invited Changyoon to do the same. Two of them were very bulky but looked sweet, fuzzy brown fur coated them and they were slightly higher than Changyoon. Next to that was a shorter, black horse that he was a little scared to get close to. To the right of them was a small, self-made stable door that was much, much lower than the others and housed a small light brown pony, its back just about reaching Changyoon's waist. 

"Come, don’t be scared."

"I think they’ll be more scared of me," Changyoon said, being fairly sure horses wouldn't appreciate being petted by claws. 

“Not at all.” Minkyun grabbed Changyoons wrist. The older instantly yanked it back on instinct and stepped away.

“Ah, I… I’m sorry. Does your wrist hurt?” Minkyun asked, a bit confused by Changyoon's reaction.

“No. It’s alright," Changyoon mumbled. He rubbed his wrist, still feeling the other’s fingers like a phantom’s touch.

Getting over his nerves, he stepped closer and extended his hand towards the horse. The big, bulky animal didn't even flinch, it was trusting. It nibbled on the top of Changyoon's hand and he pulled it back again.

“Don’t worry, they don’t bite, maybe he just thinks you’re a big carrot," Minkyun giggled, “although you’re a little too yellow to be a carrot,” he thought out loud, “anyway that’s Sora, the other brown one is Chica, the black one is Ace and the tiny one there is Cya. Also a rescue."

"You really keep a lot of animals," Changyoon remarked.

"Yeah, we mainly keep them just for fun, they don't really help on the fields."

Minkyun groaned as he came back with a big, heavy looking bucket of food. He hoisted it over the first door and poured some of it into the bowl attached to the wall. After repeating that motion for the other horses, he set it back down and left to a small room in the back to, apparently, retrieve halters. 

Changyoon was taught how to put them on and how to guide the horses to the paddock. He felt he was failing miserably and probably looked really uncomfortable as he guided the black horse after the others. Minkyun was holding the other three and even managed to open the paddock gate. 

Inside, Minkyun instructed to hook the rope off the halter, let go and stand still. Right as Changyoon let go, at the same time as Minkyun, the horses raced off. The loud pouncing of their feet trembled the earth and it felt weirdly exciting. Seeing such big creatures race off and buck like excited foals made Changyoon gleeful.

"They always pretend like they never go outside, it's like this almost every morning," Minkyun sighed with a smile, opening the paddock gate so they could walk back out.

"It looks so nice," Changyoon gushed as he hung over the fence, just staring at the animals releasing their build up energy. Minkyun smiled and hung next to him, staring over the fields in a moment of peace.

Hyojin sighed, he really didn't want to, but he figured Minkyun would manage to convince the creatures to stay another day, which meant they would stay for dinner. He counted what they had in storage and saw it definitely wasn't enough to properly cook for all of them, so he noted everything down and headed out to the kitchen again, wanting to ask Changyoon if there was anything they couldn't eat. He was only met with Seungjun, who just came wandering down the stairs.

"Where's Changyoon?" Hyojin started.

"I don't know," Seungjun scoffed, "maybe his gullible ass finally got taken behind the barn and shot."

"Why do you think we are out to murder you?"

Seungjun crossed his arms, "You just seem very hostile. Can't put my finger on why though," his tone being sassy, "anyway, why do you need Yoon all of the sudden."

"Because I need to do groceries and I wanted to know if there is anything that'll kill you guys." 

"Well, and you wonder why there is any reason for me to think that you want to murder us."

Hyojin had an obvious fake smile. "Well it was more to avoid buying it but maybe I'll change my mind."

"Hmm, good to know," Seungjun sarcastically smiled back.

"Can you tell me if there is anything you can't eat though?" Hyojin asked again, reluctantly.

"Not really, I don't like cucumbers but I doubt you'll cook anything with that anyway."

With that information, Hyojin bursted out laughing. "You're supposed to be a ferocious beast, yet you are beaten by something that's basically water in a stick?!"

"I'm not beaten by it, but you asked! I just have a preference against them! We stole them from humans once and they're gross," Seungjun yelled back, feeling embarrassed that Hyojin was mocking him.

"Yeah sure," Hyojin walked past him and gave him a pat on the shoulder, still giggling obnoxiously.

"Where are you going?" Seungjun asked.

"Like I said, I'm going to do groceries, so I'm heading to town."

"I'm coming with you."

"What, why? Please don't."

"I don't trust you," Seungjun said with narrowed eyes, "you are definitely going to gather up a bunch of enforcement and get us hunted."

"As if," Hyojin gave back, "I'm not that bugged by you that I need an army. I can take you all out perfectly well if I want."

"Yet you don't?"

"Minkyun would definitely get mad and this place is a little too precious for me to risk getting kicked out."

"This isn't your farm?"

"What do you care?" Hyojin scoffed and walked out the door without waiting for the other. 

He wished they would just leave, their being and appearance brought back too much, but he shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. He heard loud steps rush up and down the stairs in the house before the slim figure of Seungjun joined next to him outside.

Hyojin sighed again. "You're really gonna come with me?"

"Yes, I'm keeping an eye on you."

"Well, then you're carrying the bags later."

Seungjun nodded and they continued their walk to the car in silence. Hyojin saw Minkyun exit the stables down the road, followed by Changyoon awkwardly handling Ace. He smiled mockingly, seeing the horse look slightly confused at the stiff creature that guided him. However, Minkyun seemed to be having fun so Hyojin decided not to interrupt. 

Finally arriving at the vehicle, Seungjun looked nervous.

"Do we have to take this?" he asked.

Hyojin's eyes grew a little twinkle seeing the other so anxious. "Are you scared?" he teased.

"The town isn't far away," Seungjun argued, letting his vision fall on the edge of town down the hill.

"Too far to carry a bunch of groceries from. Come, don't be a wuss, like you said. It's not that far."

Seungjun stared at the car. His hand trembled getting close to it. 

Seeing the other have that much trouble, Hyojin decided to be a little merciful. "We can walk if you think you can carry the bags back home," he suggested.

"Yeah, I can. I don't want to go into that awful thing," Seungjun said quickly and stepped away. 

"Ah, another thing that defeats the beast. A car," Hyojin joked again but quickly felt a little bad about saying that.

Seungjun looked pissed and didn't even give a rebuttal. He just turned around and walked off the terrain. With the stern reaction, Hyojin didn’t ask any further. Just changed the topic to what they were going to eat and how long they were planning to stay. 

They somehow managed to bicker for most of the way and did the shopping in silence, being done with each other and not wanting to draw unnecessary attention. 

“This is way more than I thought we would get. Didn’t you say it was only for dinner?” Seungjun asked, carrying an overload of groceries.

“I never said that, I just _also_ had to get things for dinner,” the other said, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘also.’ “But you said you would carry it, so no complaining,” he continued, completely empty handed.

“It’s not too heavy, just a hassle.”

“Still, no whining.”

With that, the bickering picked right back up. Hyojin kept his own pace and walked in front of Seungjun, almost skipping, to drive home the fact he had a light weighted walk. At least the irritating attitude gave Seungjun the determination to carry the heavy load properly.

Coming home, they found everyone sitting in the living room. Everyone including Yuto.  
Hyojin saw Seungjun's eyes widen, he dropped the bags on the ground and went to hug the small stature of his youngest friend. A bit annoyed, Hyojin went to pick up what was on the ground and was quickly helped by Jaeyoung, who easily carried them like it was nothing.

“I’m so happy you are awake,” Seungjun mumbled.

“Thanks,” Yuto said in a soft, low voice, “but you’re really hurting me.”

“Ah, sorry,” Seungjun jumped and quickly let go.

Hyojin left them and went to put everything away, closely followed by Jaeyoung. He looked scary, with deep black hair and broad shoulders, he seemed intimidating, but Hyojin soon figured his looks just didn’t match the personality. Jaeyoung was kind and just made small chit chat about having tried some of the produce they bought already, giving his review of them as he set them away. 

“How is Yuto?” Hyojin asked, wondering if his treatment had gone well.

“Fine, he healed quite alright, but isn’t at full speed just yet,” Jaeyoung answered softly.

“So you can leave soon?”

“I guess,” Jaeyoung said, a little disappointed.

They gave Yuto something light to eat and send him back to bed, telling him to rest more to heal properly. The cunning small one told Changyoon to do the same, given he was also still injured. He could move around a lot better but it obviously still hurt him so he complied and went to bed as well. The two uninjured ones went to help Minkyun finish up a few tasks so Hyojin could cook in peace. 

Hyojin was still tired from yesterday, having to wake up in the middle of the night to be met with some creatures and having to be on edge around them for a day, his eyes just wanted to be shut. After dinner they lazed around but Hyojin quickly decided to just head home as the moon started to shine. He was about to say a goodbye but was interrupted by Somang’s barking. 

“Is someone here?” Minkyun asked.

“Who would?” Hyojin shrugged as he went to find what was causing the disturbance. 

“Hey,” Hyojin hummed as he opened the door and was met with two dudes with guns, clothed with heavy suits, accompanied by a big hound. “What can I help you with?” he said, a bit nervous.

“Our dog picked up a trail and we want to search your stables.”

Hyojin's heart quickly picked up, but he pretended to be in the dark. “A trail? Who are you? Why are you here?” 

“Confidential information,” the shorter armored man said annoyed, “We just need a look in your stables.”

“Sorry, but I’m not just letting anyone in.”

“Please sir, remain calm, but we suspect dragonborn to be here,” the taller armor informed in a hushed voice, “we will take care of them so you can stay unharmed.”

“Oh, oh my, yes alright. Let me get the keys,” Hyojin said politely and closed the door before rushing to the kitchen, “I think they are here for you guys,” he whispered

“What?!” Seungjun jumped up and Hyojin instantly shushed him. “Who?” he said in a lower volume.

“I don’t know but I don’t see another reason for armed guys to show up here.”

“Fuck,” Seungjun muttered, “Oh, fuck why already.” He got up and rushed upstairs, silently waking Changyoon and Yuto before taking them downstairs. Three loud knocks were heard on the front door. “Is everything alright there? We are in a rush.”

“Yeah! My friend misplaced the keys! I’ll be right there!” Hyojin yelled back, “alright, what are we going to do?” he continued softly.

“I don’t know, run?” Changyoon said. “Yuto can you?”

The youngest nodded, a bit unsure however. 

“Just hide in the storage. I’ll get them away,” Hyojin looked around but was met with distrusting eyes, “you don’t have another choice do you?” he continued.

Minkyun quickly shooed them towards their storage room and Hyojin went to open the door again. “Sorry it took so long,” he said and guided the pair to the stables. 

They had a heavy air around them so Hyojin didn’t even try to start up a conversation. He yanked the barn door open, and the horses-that were stabled inside again-quickly began acting up, feeling the hostile atmosphere of the men walking past them. Something rustled in the hay on the second floor. Hyojin definitely had a bad feeling about it.

“Go check,” one of the guys mumbled and the other quickly went to the ladder.

The rustling became louder and a purple phantom jumped over them and down on the concrete flooring, locking eyes with Hyojin for a second and a frightening feeling ran over him. It took everything in him not to yell his name in concern. The phantom smiled before rushing out and making his way down the terrain.

“There, get him!” the man ordered his canine and it raced after Seungjun. 

Without paying any further attention to Hyojin, both men jumped on motorbikes and followed suit.

“Idiot,” Hyojin uttered and jogged back to the house and into the storage room. “Why was Seungjun out?” he said when he found the others, looking distressed.

“He just left!” Changyoon said.

“Why didn’t you stop him?!”

“It’s a bit hard stopping an overly stubborn dragonborn that can walk through walls,” Changyoon bit back.

“Guys, we can’t do much about it now anyway,” Minkyun stepped in between, “I’m sure he knows what he is doing, right?” he asked the others.

“I don’t know,” Yuto answered, “he is pretty good at making rash decisions. Let’s just hope he makes it back.”

“I’ll go follow him,” Jaeyoung announced but Changyoon stopped him. 

“Dude, do you have any idea where he is going? He can go anywhere.”

“So we just have to wait?” Hyojin noticed he sounded frustrated.

“We can’t do anything else,” Changyoon shrugged, equally annoyed but he seemed to be a bit more used to Seungjun's outbursts. 

Hyojin just felt pissed. “Fine, he can go die for all I care then, I’m going home.” He turned around and left to go to his own little cottage. 

Stepping into the tiny living room area he felt anxious. “God, he is such an idiot,” he muttered to himself and went to wash up, trying to forget about the weird creatures. Yet, he still felt worried, Seungjun was fast, but it was obvious the bikes would be able to catch up with him. 

Ending the day and laying in bed, he thought about Seungjun the entire time, wondering how he could make it out. 

\-------------------------------------

It only took until early the next morning when he found the younger sitting on the couch in Minkyun's house. 

“Oh, you’re back,” Hyojin said casually, but he noticed his heart felt a little lighter.

“Of course,” Seungjun stood up, “I’m not that easily beaten,” he grinned proudly. 

Hyojin noticed the bandage around his arm and small scratches on his face but decided not to ask about it.

“Maybe you aren’t, but you’re still an idiot," he said instead, "why did you leave? Alone?”

“Did you really think they would have just checked the stables and left? They would definitely have come to the house.”

“Maybe, but what you did was dumb,” Hyojin scolded, “good thing you made it out though.”

Seeing the other being suddenly caring made Seungjun want to tease him and stepped closer. “Suddenly happy to see me?” he cooed, “want me to stay?”

Hyojin rolled his eyes and pushed Seungjun away. “How long are you guys staying anyway?” 

“We can leave today, I think,” Changyoon said softly, gauging the reaction of the others.

“Are you sure?” Hyojin said, to his own surprise, he was reluctant to let them leave, “the hunters are probably still close by. Isn’t it better to lay low for a little while?”

“Since when do you want us to stay?” Seungjun looked suspiciously at him.

“I just don’t want to send anyone to their death.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Do you want me to kick you out?” Hyojin growled at the blond.

“I don’t even want to stay.”

“Enough!” Changyoon yelled, “if we are allowed, we’ll gladly stay, Seungjun too. It’s indeed too dangerous to go out now and we need a more solid plan of action than just ‘live in the forest’, especially with winter coming up, there will be no shelter and even less food.”

Minkyun looked excited, maybe a little too excited. “Alright then!” he exclaimed, “I have a lot to do today so I could use a few hands.”

“I still don’t want to stay for long,” Seungjun bargained.

Changyoon turned a bit sassy, Hyojin figured he was done with the blond's constant rebuttals. “Are you going to go out alone again then?”

“No, but staying in one place is not going to do us any good.”

“It’s fine.” Changyoon assured

Seungjun felt nervous.

“They already found us here once," he said. "They will come back.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were finally settling somewhat. But getting used to a new daily routine seemed to bring some troubles with it.

Staring out the window, Hyojin replayed the last few days through his head. How his safe haven was invaded, his peace was disturbed. His fight or flight response hadn’t left him since they arrived. Since the main building had become infected, he had taken to working mostly in his own house now, turning the small room next to his bedroom into an office. It only had a small desk with an office chair and a small lounge corner with a chair and a coffee table.

He disliked being so anxious all the time, he didn’t regret helping wounded beings, but he wished they could quickly find safety and leave. Yet he kept caring for them, knowing that sending them away would be giving them a death sentence. He cooked for them, checked up on them, yet wanted them to just leave. 

He was twirling his pen around as a short “hey!” made him jump in his chair, he recognized the voice and instantly felt annoyed.

“Why are you here?” Hyojin asked the buggy blond that was standing behind him.

“Wondering what you are up to,” Seungjun answered reluctantly and petted one of the cats laying in the windowsill, “What’s its name?” he then continued.

“I don’t know, ask Minkyun. He leaves out food for them, so cats just gather here,” Hyojin shrugged, “anyway, don’t you have anything better to do? Training? Help Kyun? Anything but be here?”

“No. Minkyun asked who wanted to help and I’m not here to play farm boy. And with you also not being there, I wondered what your job was.”

“Lots of boring number things you probably have no clue about,” Hyojin mumbled and slouched over his desk again. 

However, Seungjun—shuffling around him, inspecting his room—was way too distracting. He sighed loudly and just mindlessly answered emails from companies and trading partners. He didn’t feel like bickering for hours again today. Starting any semblance of a conversation would just end in frustrations that he didn’t want to deal with at the moment.

“What is your relationship with Minkyun, anyway?” Seungjun started out of the blue.

“What do you care?” Hyojin scoffed.

“Nothing. Just, you don’t seem like lovers, and I don’t see you in any family portraits.”

Hyojin turned to look at Seungjun who was scanning one of the shelves. “We’re friends,” he said honestly, “he gave me a home, just like he’s doing to you guys. He’s too good for his own safety,” Hyojin muttered, “anyway, can you leave? You’re distracting.”

“Nah,” Seungjun gave back and settled on the sofa chair that decorated the corner of Hyojin’s tiny office. 

Being done trying to reason with the buggy blond, Hyojin turned around and continued his work. At least Seungjun stayed quiet, so Hyojin could do his tasks relatively undisturbed. 

Not long after, he turned back around and saw Seungjun still on the sofa chair. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open. He had laid his head back on the low headrest.

Hyojin scoffed. “Unsightly, for a dragonborn.” 

—————————————

Changyoon blinked, his sharp focused vision turned normal. The dense plates on his body ebbed away, leaving velvet-like skin behind. An odd sensation tingled through his limbs as they became soft. 

He stretched out his wings before tucking them back in. 

“You don’t look as I expected.” Was the first comment Minkyun said after he finally got the brace off Changyoon, letting him transform back into a human form.

“I don’t look that different, do I?”

“You do!” Minkyun exclaimed, “you look so normal.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

"No! No, please it’s fine. I said it a bit weird, I just didn’t expect you to look so... normal? I mean you all do, but just...that still sounds rude. Uhm…”

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Changyoon shushed with a slight giggle before continuing, “so, what are we going to do today? Seungjun buggered off, so you’ll only have three helpers.”

“That’s more than enough, given I normally do all this by myself. Today we need to do some harvesting and I wanted to clean the stables a little,” Minkyun said, “I feel the recovering people should do harvesting, cleaning will be a fair amount of carrying. So Changyoon and Yuto, I’ll teach you what needs to be harvested.”

“Please,” Changyoon interrupted, “I have been sitting still too long, let me properly work, I’ll help cleaning.”

“No,” Minkyun scolded, “we _just_ got the brace off you. We don’t even know if your wing works properly.”

“I don’t need my wing to clean.”

“Still, your leg was hurt too. Just go harvest.” 

After a deep sigh, Changyoon gave in and let himself be taken to the fields.  
With a quick summary, Minkyun told him and Yuto how to get the carrots and beets out of the ground. He gave them a cart and they set off together.

“Well, this is definitely not how I expected to end up,” Yuto mumbled after they finished the first row of carrots. 

He stared at what they still had to do, there weren't a lot of rows, luckily.  
With the scarce amount of vegetables, Changyoon wondered how they even turned enough of a profit to live here. Although, he felt it would be a little rude to ask that question, so he just did his task silently.  
They pushed the cart in between the crops as they each took a side to harvest from. 

Changyoon was just getting another carrot out of the ground when he heard a stomp behind him. Thinking Yuto just tripped he didn't mind it. But then he heard another, a thud, followed by earth falling down, he heard it again, and again, and again... 

"Yuto, you shouldn't," Changyoon said relaxedly when he looked back and saw the other just stomp on the ground. A ball of dirt hovered up to eye level and Yuto caught the carrot that was inside as he let it all fall back down.

“Why not?” Yuto asked,

"What if someone comes?"

"No one will."

“How are you so sure?”

Yuto just side-eyed the other and moved on. “How long can we stay here?" he asked, stubbornly continuing his new harvesting method.

"I don’t know," Changyoon muttered. 

Another thud ran through the silence, and Changyoon went back to his mundane task. 

It seemed so peaceful here. If they could, he would love to just settle here. Minkyun seemed friendly and Hyojin… could potentially turn around. But he knew they shouldn’t, Changyoon knew _he_ shouldn’t.

"Would it work if I just…" Yuto let the question fade out as he took a wider stance and lowered himself. He made a big scooping motion, and forced a whole row of carrot infested earth to float up. 

Accepting the other's behaviour, Changyoon got up and walked past the hovering dirt, picking out the carrots before throwing them into the cart.

“Well, we’re done quickly at least,” Changyoon remarked.

A sudden voice yelled from behind. "Oh my god!" 

The high decibel levels of the unique vocals got Yuto to jump and lose focus. Dust sprung up when he accidentally let the earth fall down.

Minkyun came jogging up to them. "That was awesome!"

“Uhh, thanks… I guess,” Yuto said awkwardly.

“You can move earth?!”

“...You saw my scales before...” 

“So?”

“You don't know dragonborn colours?”

“Nope," Minkyun sang, "but you do make for an efficient harvester, I see," he continued, letting his vision scan the now near full tank of carrots and beets.

The casual compliment made the dragonborn duo chuckle. 

“We are done with the stables,” Minkyun informed suddenly, “Jaeyoung works so fast. So I’ll help here for a bit,” he offered and grabbed a carrot off the ground.

Changyoon scanned the area. “Where is Jaeyoung even?”

“He went to check on Seungjun.”

“Alright.”

“Okay, wait”—Minkyun put a hand up—“So brown is earth. Why is purple ‘phasing’ then? That’s not an element.”

The question, filled with naivety, surprised the two dragonborn.

“I didn’t expect humans to know so little about us...” Yuto spoke up. “We aren’t all elemental types. For example, Jaeyoung is silver but he's not a 'metal type'. Our colours just show our skill set, it can be anything.”

“‘Know so little’?" Minkyun echoed, "Most people don’t even believe you guys are real anymore—... Wait, shhh,” he shushed out of nowhere. “Come with me.”

Changyoon instantly ducked. “What, they’re back?”

“No, no,” Minkyun whispered. “There, in the fields.” 

He crouched down and pointed ahead of him. It took Changyoon a little to find what he was pointing at. A few rabbits, hopping around the field, a few meters away from them. Minkyun slowly walked further, crawling over the fence and sitting on the other side, getting a good view of the fluffs in the grass.  
Changyoon and Yuto looked at each other and decided to follow the other’s example.

“Yuto, you go left, I'll take the right,” Changyoon ordered and began his prowl.

“Where are you going?” Minkyun whispered in a slight panic, making the dragonborn halt their actions.

“To the rabbits.”

“Don’t, you’ll scare them.”

“Yuto has hunted a fair amount of them already, I’ll just be the barrier to keep them on this side. We know what to do.”

“Hunt?! What?!” Minkyun hissed. “They’re cute, don’t hunt them. Come here, just look at them.”

With the stress of potentially losing sight of the adorable rabbits, Minkyun again grabbed Changyoon’s wrist and pulled him back.  
A bit bewildered on why he’d watch prey rather than chase, Changyoon sat down and stared at the fluffs. 

“Cute?” he mumbled.

“Yes, cute. They look so soft, don’t you want to pet one?” Minkyun asked.

“Why?”

“Like we did with the horses last time… Although, wild rabbits probably don’t want to be petted, but they are nice to look at. Just watch them.”

“Just makes me hungry.”

“Stop looking at them like food...”

“Fine.”

He tried his best to observe them as just normal beings. They didn't have 'pets' in their tribe. In the past, they traveled with the surrounding herds of wildlife. However, the hunters soon made them move sporadically, so they had to start using long hunting trips to find food. Other animals were food, that's what he knew.  
It took him a while before Changyoon found them a little cute. His stomach still said that they would be a good meal, but his mind started to find enjoyment in just watching.  
They hopped every so often to find a new patch of food, casually enjoying their time. They were just there, out in the open, incredibly fragile and unknowing, but they continued living with that fact. Changyoon felt a little connection.  
He went to hug his legs and just then, Changyoon realised Minkyun was still holding onto his wrist. He gently tugged his arm back, making Minkyun jump. 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t...notice,” he stumbled over his words, through nerves.

“It’s alright.”

“It is?”

Changyoon only answered it with an unfazed hum, feeling a slight hint of concern at how quickly he was getting used to his new company. 

“Hey, Yuto—...” he looked to the other side of Minkyun, wanting to break the awkward silence. It was vacant. “Where is Yuto?” 

“He’s gone?” Minkyun asked and looked to the right. Seeing the empty spot as well, a small panic set in. “Where is he?”

Now, having fallen for the little poofballs in the field, Changyoon went to scan for Yuto to stop him, fearing what he was up to. 

“I didn’t even hear him leave,” Minkyun said, a mix of amazement and fear on his face.

“Yeah, we rarely do either, he’s so sneaky.”

“How are you still together?” Minkyun whispered a little loudly, getting worked up. “With one just phasing through stuff and another, apparently, having the habit of sneaking off, I’m surprised you’re still a group."

“Yeah, don’t ask me... Oh there he is,” Changyoon continued in a soft voice, gesturing towards the edge of the forest. 

Yuto was crouched next to a tree, scanning the fields like a hawk. Noticing the hunters position Yuto had, Changyoon violently flailed his arms to get his attention. He was ignored.  
Only when Minkyun joined in on the waving did they finally manage to make Yuto look their way.  
Mimicking crosses with their arms and shaking their heads ‘no’ until it hurt; they tried to convey the message that Yuto should stop what he was planning.  
Yuto just looked at them, smiled, and gave them a thumbs up before sitting back in position.

Changyoon knew that if he screamed at Yuto, he would definitely scare the rabbits away and maybe make the youngest sad for ruining his plan. He couldn't deal with a potentially pouty Yuto, so Changyoon just looked at the show unfolding. 

“Oh god, what is he planning…?” 

The yellow dragonborn let his shoulders hang. Again, complying with the whims of the youngest, he sat back, making Minkyun do the same. 

Yuto had started to move. Like a panther, he snuck over the fields to the unsuspecting rabbits, the fluffs didn’t even look up as Yuto prowled soundlessly over the grass. He had always been the most agile with the most body control, being one with the ground yet moving freely in air when needed, Minkyun seemed slightly amazed at the elegance of the sneaky dragonborn as he got closer and closer to the little fluffs, until it was nearly sitting behind it.

“He’s gonna give them a heart attack,” Minkyun sighed. 

Right as he said that, Yuto pounced on one of them, holding it to the ground. The poor creature frantically moved to get free, fearing it had met its end.  
With a proud grin Yuto picked it up by its legs. He smiled brightly and he held up the struggling prey. Changyoon rolled his eyes and again signed that the actions were a no-go, but Yuto walked over to them anyway.

“Dude, why didn’t you listen?” Changyoon said annoyed.

“I did, you just wanted me to not hunt them, right? But Minkyun found them cute, so I thought I’d bring one.”

Minkyun looked a little sad at the rabbit. The creature was still flailing around with wide eyes. “Please let it go,” Minkyun said.

Yuto furrowed his eyebrow at the request. “Are you sure?”

“Yes… Let’s not capture wild animals like this.”

With his offer to Minkyun being denied, he gently placed it on the ground and the little fearful creature rushed off. 

“Do you do it often?” Minkyun asked softly, watching the freed prey run.

Changyoon turned towards the other but Minkyun’s eyes stayed staring at the fields. 

“What?” Changyoon asked.

“Hunt.”

“Well, we have to, it’s one of our main sources of food.”

“Have you killed many...things?”

“I usually don’t join hunts. Not big ones at least,” Changyoon mumbled, remembering the stern talking-to he got the first time he wanted to join a hunt.

“Why not?” Surprise in the other's voice.

“I just don’t go. Yuto has joined many however, his ability is fairly useful for traps.”

“Oh. Yes!” Minkyun said when he got that information, “what exactly can you do?” he asked shamelessly, wanting to take his mind off the whole ‘killing’ topic.

“We can show you? It’s been a while,” Yuto smirked.

—————————————

After a few hours, Seungjun woke up again, a lot more refreshed, and to Hyojin’s dismay, very wordy.

He groaned and stretched his body. “What time is it?”

“Late afternoon,” Hyojin answered.

“Are the others still busy?”

“I believe so. They had a lot to do today. At least _they_ are working.”

Seungjun ignored the subtle jab and walked over, staring at whatever Hyojin was doing. “Still the number things?” he asked, pulling up an eyebrow at the paper.

“Yes, so how about you go help out on the field.”

“Let me help you.”

“Why?” Hyojin groaned.

“Seems more interesting,” the other shrugged, “and I am not that great with things that require strong muscles.”

“Can you even do maths?”

“I have seen numbers before, Although we don't use this many numbers,” he informed, starting over Hyojin's shoulder.

"Okay, but can you do math?" Hyojin asked, "additions?"

"Just putting them together?"

"I guess?"

"Probably," Seungjun said with naive confidence. 

“Then go calculate this sheet,” Hyojin chuckled, handing Seungjun one of the simpler sheets, only filled with additions. The other grabbed it and a pencil and sat back in his sofa chair.

It took a whole 10 minutes before Seungjun opened his mouth again.

“Why do you need this many snakes?”

Hyojin took a second to process the question. “We need what now?”

“Snakes.”

“What are you on about?”

Seungjun turned his paper around and tapped his pencil on it to point at the little S-sign next to a number. 

Shameless laughter boomed through the office.

“No, idiot," Hyojin insulted, "that is a sign that tells you it is money.”

“Oh… money?”

“Yes, what we used to pay for the groceries a few days ago…”

“Aaah, that was that, the card you own!”

“Indeed,” Hyojin nodded.

"You pay with snakes?"

"What?"

"Snakes, the money sign," Seungjun said as if _the other_ was asking the weird questions, "you give them snakes with a card?"

Hyojin looked a bit baffled as he tried to find a way to explain the concept of money and banks to the other.

"Do you think we pay with live animals?"

Seungjun's eyes widened. "Do you exchange dead snakes?!"

That last question just made Hyojin give up and move on. He scanned the paper the other had been working on, noticing not only the elephant handwriting but also the wrong answers. “How are you calculating this?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know how to do additions?”

“Yes, it just wants you to write both numbers.”

Hyojin wasn’t sure if to slap Seungjun or his forehead, but decided to just let out a deep sigh. “Do you not get taught maths?”

“What use do we have for math?”

“I don’t know?! But why did you accept to help me then?”

“Well, I thought I was doing it correctly,” Seungjun defended himself, “then teach me.”

“Why?”

Seungjun shifted his eyes to his paper again, getting handed an eraser and told to undo his pencil. “I don’t want to be the only one doing nothing…” he muttered.

Even though Hyojin felt like making fun of him again, the sincerity in the other’s voice pushed him to help. “Well alright. I’ll teach you.”

To Hyojin’s surprise, Seungjun got the hang of it fairly quickly. He listened well and saw patterns fast. Even if Hyojin didn’t want to admit it, Seungjun was smarter than he thought, and a lot less annoying now that he was serious.  
After the lesson, the blond went to work on his sheet again and had only made small mistakes here and there when he handed it back in. Hyojin teased him for the wrong answers but wasn’t past complimenting him for his progress. He was about to give him his next paper when the doorbell rang. 

Jaeyoung’s friendly smile greeted them and informed them of a sparring match taking place soon to which they were invited.  
Hyojin didn’t feel like seeing a bunch of monsters flex their abilities, but he didn’t want Minkyun to be alone in such a dangerous situation, so he decided to join them.

—————————————

After Minkyun had put everything away and locked the buildings, he said he had a spot in mind and led the way into the forest. 

They found themselves on an open circle in between the trees. There was no grass growing on the part of stone ground.  
It wasn’t a big circle, but it was far enough away, and the few plants that the late autumn cold had been merciful on, covered the surrounding area. On top of that, he had never noticed hunters being active during the day. 

Still, this was dangerous and careless—Changyoon felt—but he couldn’t just stop the others, since it was also smart to keep up training.

With Changyoon feeling incredibly conflicted, they settled somewhere on the edge of the open spot and let Jaeyoung and Yuto do their stretches, preparing for their fight. Minkyun seemed the only one excited about this.  
Hyojin was seated to the right of the energetic man but the redhead looked either bored or annoyed, although Changyoon hadn't seen any other expression on him so far, so he wasn't sure if it was just a default or not. 

Changyoon looked to his left and saw that Seungjun was just playing with the grass, but he couldn’t blame him, they had seen these sessions so often by now, either at home or during actual fights, they had seen almost every possibility of each other's powers.

Even though this was probably as safe as they could make it out here, Changyoon felt nervous. If they left a trace by damaging any spot with their powers, it would be breadcrumbs for the hunters. 

Yuto and Jaeyoung both got out of their shirts and threw them near the audience members before both sprouting their wings. 

Yuto blended in with the forest, his deep brown scales and wings let him become one with the nature around him. His tail swept over the dirt.  
Jaeyoung stood out. Shimmering silver plates covered his skin, reflecting the light beautifully as he set them out. The big scales turned up to form into spikes, cutting anyone that came close. He brushed over his arms and plucked some of the scales off with ease. Normally it would hurt, Changyoon still felt his own skin ripple whenever he saw scales laying about, like when Jaeyoung left his trail before they came to the farm, But Jaeyoung was the only type built to not feel it, he could pull them out easily.  
He held them between his fingers as he almost instantly grew replacements.

While Jaeyoung held steady, keeping an open stance like a wall, Yuto lowered himself, placing a hand on the ground, in touch with his element.

Seungjun found the nearest stone next to him and did what they always did; he threw it in the middle of the ring. Changyoon noticed Minkyun held his breath as the small rock flew through the air, signaling the start, slowing down the world around them for a few seconds as the tension rose.

As soon as the little stone hit the ground, Yuto set off. Earth flicked up with every one of the few steps he took to get to Jaeyoung.  
Jaeyoung held his arms crossed, protecting his upper body, so Yuto dragged his hand over the ground to pull out a chunk of hard earth and flung it Jaeyoung’s way. All the other did was use it as a stepping stone to jump up towards the other. Yuto slung another rock towards the figure in the air. 

To dodge, Jaeyoung flapped his wings to push himself to the side, twirling mid air before using the leading motion to flick his wrist and shoot scales like throwing stars.  
Seeing the shimmers speed his way, Yuto quickly ducked and pulled a slab of earth over himself, letting it catch the blades. 

Small noises of praise left Minkyun's lips. He eyed every one of the others' movements with amazement while saying he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Before Jaeyoung could touch ground, Yuto let the slab of earth sink back and kicked up a small hill, right where the other was going to land, making him stumble forward. The loss of balance gave Yuto the opportunity to gather hard rock around his hand and mash his fist against Jaeyoung’s face. 

It made him fall and roll over, but Jaeyoung made use of that momentum to instantly get back on his feet.  
Holding his face and shaking his head, he tried to get his vision back.  
Minkyun looked surprised that Jaeyoung looked nearly unscathed, just a scratch on his cheek. 

After brushing some dirt off of his face Jaeyoung started another staring contest with Yuto.

Yuto’s breathing was a bit heavy as they slowly prowled around each other, walking a circle, anticipating the other’s next actions. Every so often their wings flapped and their tails twitched, taunting potential movement.

“Yuto, are you still alright?!” Changyoon yelled from the sideline.

Without breaking eye contact, Yuto nodded.

This time it was Jaeyoung moving first, he pulled more scales and instantly flicked them Yuto’s way. Again Yuto pulled up a shield of rock.  
Having blocked the other's field of view, Jaeyoung speeded closer and in the blink of an eye, moved around the earth slab; standing next to the other before swinging his leg to bring Yuto to the ground. 

Yuto crawled up in a hurry and jumped away so Jaeyoung chased, using his trained muscle to quickly catch up. 

“Running from him is useless,” Seungjun muttered to himself.

Changyoon barely registered what happened after that. Yuto flicked himself up in the air, using a pillar of earth he kicked up, only to be stopped by Jaeyoung reaching just high enough to grab his ankle and throw him back on the ground. Yuto rolled into the movement and found his footing again but quickly, his knees hit the ground.

"Fuck, alright. Enough," Yuto groaned and clutched his side.

“Are you alright?” Jaeyoung asked through heavy breaths as he crouched next to the other.

“Hn… Yeah…” Yuto answered, “I guess we got a little eager. I think the skin healed but maybe not everything inside,” he continued as he pressed a hand to his old injury.

Jaeyoung smiled and got Yuto off the ground. “Well, let’s just leave it here. It was a little short but at least we got some exercise in.”

“Yes, please, let’s leave,” Changyoon said hastily, disliking how long they had been here already. 

“Don’t you two need to train?” Minkyun asked the dragonborn sitting next to him, excited to see more action. 

Changyoon tried to think of an excuse not to, but Seungjun quickly stood up. “No, I’m not one to fight one-on-one and given Yuto isn’t fully recovered, I doubt Changyoon is either," he spoke.

"Fair point," Minkyun agreed, a bit dejected, “alright. Let’s go home.”

To Changyoon’s relief, they came home safely. He had bugged the others to clean up, making Yuto fix the dirt. With a skillful hand, he flattened the land again, leaving it seemingly untouched. Jaeyoung, meanwhile, collected back his scales, putting them in his pocket to throw away later and getting their shirts off the ground.

Minkyun went to do a check around the property and told the others to go settle on the couch inside. Hyojin left to his own house to finish up some things, saying he had to catch up because ‘a certain someone’ had disturbed him.

“You’re allowed to turn on the TV,” Minkyun suggested when he came home to a silent room, the dragonborn just kind of staring into nothing. 

“The what?” Seungjun asked.

“TV,” Minkyun repeated, “that thing,” he continued, pointing at an odd black box in the corner of the room.

Most dragonborn became a little hesitant. But Yuto instantly stretched his curious hands out to the box and let a palm go over it. “What does it do?”

The box made small trickling noises when Yuto touched the glass panel in front. It made Changyoon nervous, it sounded like electricity.

“What any TV does. It’s an old thing but works fine still.” Minkyun grabbed a black remote with many buttons, Changyoon had hunters hold such designs too and he got more fearful. 

Minkyun hit one of them and the small dragonborn in front of the box jumped backwards as sudden sounds came out of the TV and pictures played.  
All tensed up as they stared at the screen switching between a bunch of unknown imagery.  
Some were of humans they didn’t know, staring at the screen and speaking in a serious tone, and other times weird moving drawings flipped past. Only the TV was heard as the dragonborn held their breath. Minkyun didn’t stay on any clip for long and eventually turned it off and walked to the cupboard underneath the box.

“Who were those people?” Yuto asked, his eyes twinkling, “and how did those drawings move?”

Minkyun snickered as he let his vision pass through the room and saw how fascinated the others all looked. 

“I don’t know who they are,” Minkyun informed, “they are just other people who play out stories for entertainment. Others read out important events happening in the world,” he explained, “and those moving drawings are too much of a hassle to explain.”

He crouched down next to Yuto and opened a drawer, revealing a row of slim cases.

“Shall we watch a movie?”

Yuto let his eyes fall on the different texts naming the boxes. “A what?”

“Uuhm… A story?”

“Watch a story? Don't you mean 'listen to'?”

"No, watch." Minkyun trailed a finger over the different cases before taking one out and opening it. 

The disk that he held after, had some red and blue figure on it and Changyoon found that the underside resembled Jaeyoung’s scales.

The silence stayed, none of them had any clue what awaited them and were frankly too amazed by all the things they had just witnessed to comment on anything.  
The disk disappeared into some slim gray box and Minkyun grabbed a different remote. 

“Go sit on the couch,” Minkyun suggested when Yuto stayed on the floor and had his eyes fixated on the screen, wondering when it would jump on again. 

Doing as told, Yuto sat back on the three-seater sofa. Changyoon was on the other side and Minkyun sat in between after going to the kitchen to grab everyone something to drink. Jaeyoung and Seungjun both angled their chairs on either side of the couch to face the TV as well. 

A stupid grin formed on Minkyun’s face as he noticed the tension in the room. He pressed a few buttons and a soft intro started playing.

They all watched quietly. Barely blinking to not miss a thing; staring at the scenes playing out on the box. 

Changyoon felt his heart pick up throughout the movie. So much happened. With the sheer excitement that boiled up, he barely processed what the story actually was, but he loved it nonetheless. 

“Is that real? How does he do that?!” Changyoon asked, “Are radioactive spiders real? I’ve never heard of them… did humans make them?” 

“No,” Minkyun snorted, “this is a story. It’s not real.”

“But he can climb walls and ceilings!” Jaeyoung joined in, “And shoot silk!”

“Shut up you two,” Seungjun hissed, “I can’t hear shit.”

“Sorry…”

Following the scolding, Changyoon tried his best to contain himself through the rest of the movie. Sometimes sounds of amazement accidently passed his lips. Only Jaeyoung joined in on the noises, Yuto just seemed hypnotized and Seungjun sometimes told the others off when they got too loud. Minkyun seemed to have more fun watching the creatures surrounding him than watching the movie.

When the movie finally ended Minkyun was bombarded with questions. Either about the movie itself or the box that played it. They all got answered with patience and chuckles until it was getting late and they had to go sleep. To get the others to shut up, Minkyun promised to show them another one of those movies tomorrow and hurried them to bed.

"Say, Yoon," Seungjun hummed from the other side of the bed, "are we really leaving after winter?"

Minkyun still insisted on sleeping on the couch, giving the dragonborn his two person bed and the other room with the guest bed plus an old mattress next to it. At least Seungjun had agreed to remove the guarding shifts for the stairs during the night. While Jaeyoung and Yuto kept to the guest room, Changyoon and Seungjun shared the two person bed.

Changyoon turned on his back and stared at the ceiling.

"Changing your mind?" he asked.

"I thought they would kill us… but they don't seem hostile, and it's safe here. I promised to keep you safe."

"Seungjun, we're basically just friends now, alright? No need for the responsibility."

"I already failed before, I failed so many times—"

"Jun, stop."

"I have, you know I have. I just want to protect everyone but even that I can't, if this farm can then we should stay here."

"What's this lack of confidence you have suddenly?"

"Just… I made a wrong judgement _again_ "

"In what sense?"

"Trying to get us off this farm while being here is the safest we've been in months."

"You couldn't have known that," Changyoon tried to assure but Seungjun kept his body turned away from him, "and besides, in this shelter I still am not safe, and by extension you guys aren't either. So you're doing the right thing."

Seungjun laughed softly. "Yeah, true. We should leave soon..."

—————————————

While Changyoon couldn’t stop talking about movies, Minkyun gushed about their little sparring session for the few days after. He kept mentioning their elegant moves, the ease with which they used their powers and how he wanted to have them himself. He asked if they could take him flying once, but they all refused since flying above the farm would be dangerous, too easy to spot.

No matter how odd he still found the other, Changyoon got used to him quickly. The sporadic questions, the loud voice when he got excited, the relaxing atmosphere he always created, the soft touch with which he took care of the animals—it all made Changyoon feel relaxed. He enjoyed being with Minkyun and found himself seeking him out when he was gone for a while.

However, every so often Changyoon would catch and remind himself that this was temporary, they shouldn't be here. 

One day, when Changyoon was just hanging around on the couch, watching another movie, resting his muscles after another day on the field, Minkyun suddenly spoke up. "Wait, so you have only ever been living in the forest?" he asked.

"Yes… We lived in the mountains for a bit but there isn't a lot of food there," Changyoon explained. "So we mostly just stayed in forest areas where everything was accessible."

"Have you ever been to a town then?"

"No."

"Want to come with me? Pick out what we'll eat today?"

Changyoon was a little hesitant, a town meant a lot of people to just casually walk in between. "I don't even know any dishes, apart from what you have made for us up until now."

"That's fine, just join me. You can even help me cook later. Hyojin is busy today so it's my turn to make food," Minkyun said proudly.

Changyoon knew he shouldn’t have come here. His muscles were sore. He managed to convince Minkyun not to take the car, but walking here with sore muscles wasn't that great either.  
However, most worrying of all, the town was lively. 

It was small and everyone seemed to know each other, everyone seemed to know Minkyun. Most greeted him happily, offered him discounts or something to drink but Minkyun politely declined them all as they made their way past the shops. Sometimes they asked about Minkyun's company, to which he just offhandedly said Changyoon was a cousin. People seemed a little too surprised at that information.  
Changyoon had hoped they could do this fairly unnoticed, a quick in-and-out to minimize the risk. However, Minkyun took his time showing Changyoon around, explaining multiple products and etiquettes he had never heard of. Many people introduced themselves to Changyoon or greeted him very amicably. It felt uncomfortable to interact with so many humans. 

Eventually they made their way to a produce store. 

"Do you have anything you want to eat?" Minkyun asked again.

"I liked the carrots we harvested,” Changyoon answered, “you still had some right? They should be good for a few days still."

"Yepp, we can just make it simple, add some peas, potatoes and meat?"

"Yeah, sure," Changyoon agreed and followed to the correct isles.

Being introduced as a "cousin" so much today, Changyoon's mind wandered places as he wondered about Minkyun's family. There were a fair amount of pictures on the walls, all taken around the farm property. Most captures were of Minkyun, with what seemed like his parents, playing around. 

Changyoon had a careful tone. “Do you have family?” he asked

Minkyun looked a bit confused. “Of course.”

“Well, where are they?”

“I don’t speak much with them anymore, and my parents passed away long ago,” Minkyun answered honestly while he grabbed some random items from the shelves, “the farm was theirs actually. Although it used to be a lot bigger.”

Changyoon wasn’t sure what to do with the sudden information. He could relate to Minkyun, to an extent, but he didn’t feel like this open produce store was the perfect place for such a serious conversation, even if Minkyun’s tone was casual when speaking about it. 

Instead, Changyoon went to change the topic and they kept it to surface level chit-chat until they were back in the kitchen with all the ingredients laid out properly. Jaeyoung and Yuto were still rounding up their field tasks they got assigned this morning, Hyojin was in his own office and Seungjun was god knows where, so it was just Minkyun and Changyoon in the kitchen.

"You've seen us do this before right?" Minkyun asked as he handed Changyoon a peeler and the carrots. 

"Yes, I'm pretty sure."

Even with that response, Minkyun quickly explained what the other needed to do to get the carrots ready for cooking.  
With the heavy concentration that arose as Changyoon focused on learning this new skill, Minkyun let out a small chuckle.

To let the other keep his staring contest with the carrot going, Minkyun went to stand at the counter while Changyoon sat at the dinner table. They kept it quiet, only Minkyun’s occasional humming filled the silence. 

As hard as Changyoon tried, he felt dumb with how clumsy his movements were, taking annoyingly long in comparison to what he saw Hyojin do last time.

"Ouch," Chanyoon hissed as a sting ran through his hand. A small cut poured blood from his finger.

Minkyun swiftly turned around. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes. It's just a cut," the other shussed as he sucked on the little wound.

After rummaging in some drawers Minkyun went to sit next to Changyoon and took his hand. 

A small band-aid being wrapped around his finger made Changyoon giggle. "You know this will fully heal within an hour, right?" he said, reminding the other of the healing capabilities of dragonborn.

"Still, it could infect within that hour," Minkyun shrugged. "Also, does being in your other form make cutting easier or something?"

Looking at his arm; sparse, yellow scales decorated Changyoon. "No, strong emotions, like pain, just make it flare up," he shrugged, “it’ll go away again soon,” he added shyly.

It bugged him that his form jumped up so quickly. Heavy emotions made any one of them waver but none would let scales show because of a measly cut. It was frustrating being the only beginner in that. In the tribe, the others always got proper training. Changyoon hated that he had to sit at the sidelines during those times.

"You don't have to change if it's troublesome," Minkyun spoke softly when he saw Changyoon’s concentration had gone from the carrot to his arm. "I think it's pretty."

"Uuh… thanks?" Changyoon said.

He still had no clue how to deal with the compliments and everytime Minkyun spoke so gently, he got more nervous.

"How do I cut this after peeling?" he then asked to divert Minkyun's attention.

He was finally done taking the skin off of the carrots.

"Here," Minkyun said and handed him a knife. "Just cut them into thin slices."

The definition of ‘thin’ is different for everyone. Changyoon was fairly decent with weaponry, as he was allowed to handle those back in the tribe, so with a skilled hand, he cut the thinnest slices he could.

“Changyoon…” Minkyun said suddenly, “Changyoon!”

The second calling got the other out of his concentration. “Huh? Is something wrong?”

“How do you manage to cut them _this_ thin…?”

“You asked for thin slices.”

“This is nearly non-existent,” Minkyun said as he picked up a nearly see-through piece, “just make them about this big,” he continued.

He held Changyoon’s hand and placed it a bit further along on the vegetable to show the proper thickness. Minkyun had a gentle touch, still quite careful. For some reason, Changyoon’s focus left him when the other got close.

The place Minkyun’s palm had touched kept burning even when it disconnected. It made Changyoon confused but he chose to not pay it any mind and continued his task. Minkyun was way quicker with his preparations and had already set everything to boil when the carrots were added to the stove.  
They played the waiting game while making small talk around the table.

“You cooked?!” Seungjun exclaimed when Minkyun had proudly stated the dinner was made with Changyoon’s help.

“No, All I did was cut carrots.”

“Ey,” Minkyun scolded, “You were incredibly helpful.”

He placed a hand on Changyoon's shoulder and gave him an encouraging smile.

The dinner went by like any previous one had, the bickering was ever present but everyone had just started to ignore Hyojin and Seungjun, their arguments didn’t seem that hostile anyway.

A fork twirled over Yuto’s plate as he was deep in thought. 

Having come to a conclusion, he spoke up. “Say,” he started, “It’s been bugging me since yesterday… Minkyun, you said humans don’t believe in us?” 

“Oh that, yeah, most don’t,” Minkyun answered.

“Why?” Seungjun took over, he sounded offended.

Minkyun arched an eyebrow. “Because we haven’t been in contact with you for ages. All the stories about you have turned into hear-say. Now it's more of a choice to believe in dragonborn or not.”

“Well, we are very much real. And the hunters know so too,” Yuto said, “do they not work for humans?”

“I had no idea that those existed. I don’t know what kind of organisation they are.”

“Wouldn’t they keep replenishing their forces if it was a thing by _all_ humans?” Changyoon asked, more to Yuto than to the humans.

“True. They have been becoming sparse and don’t seem to be adding to their troops...”

“Sparse?” Hyojin asked.

“Yeah,” Jaeyoung chimed in, “I remember my dad telling me it was half a war back in the day when there were still many of both sides. The war has been endless but as of recent, the humans developed so many new weapons. Yet it also made them more reckless, so currently, both hunters and dragonborn have been getting less and less… I wonder who will remain in the end,” he added in a sombre tone.

"But you guys were fully beat up when you came here," Hyojin remembered.

"Yeah," Jaeyoung agreed, "they have good equipment, even if there aren't many."

"Why did it start even?" Minkyun asked.

"Maybe because we became myths? From our campstories we were told that we used to communicate with humans, but they became fearful and distrusting. They chased us out and we stopped all contact. A group became hostile after that. I don't know what really started it all."

"That does explain why you speak our language… Kind of. You can swear but don't know what a TV is."

"I guess it developed somewhat the same way," Jaeyoung chuckled, "we have our ancient tongue but none of us besides Seungjun knows it."

"Oh, what does it sound like?" Minkyun asked, switching his attention to Seungjun.

Seungjun just looked at him, having an expression that showed he wasn't going to cooperate, not feeling like relaying the information.

“Well, for now you are safe here,” Minkyun said in a cheery tone instead, to try and lighten up the mood, “so how about we go do something fun tomorrow?” he suggested.

Changyoon was a bit suspicious of the other's sudden sneaky eyes. “Entailing?”

“Shopping."

—————————————

It was weird being back in town. Changyoon felt a tad more relaxed but it was still odd to just walk around humans so casually. The fact that they knew most humans didn't believe in them anymore helped ease his nerves, since it meant they would suspect them less quickly. But somehow, he still felt a little anxious. He kept close to Minkyun, feeling safe with him.

While walking the way to town, Hyojin—after somehow being convinced to join them—kept warning the whole way to behave normally. Jaeyoung tried to assure him that they would be quiet but Hyojin didn't believe it, and Seungjun's constant back-talking didn't add to him feeling any type of security. 

Now, they were on the same main road again, this time skipping past all the produce stores and ending up in a part that contained all sorts of shops with weird products. 

Jaeyoung tried his best to keep everyone within the group, like they promised Hyojin they would. Yuto gave the most trouble, his curiosity led him to wander off constantly, and with his natural habit of being sneaky, they barely noticed.  
Luckily, Seungjun was loud enough for the others to know when he was distracted, as he would yell out whatever he had found.  
Even though Changyoon tried his best to not get separated from the group, he couldn't help follow his eyes sometimes. Some items just looked really cool.

"What did you find?" Minkyun asked from behind him when Changyoon stared into a shop.

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

"No, show me."

"Shouldn't we catch up?" Changyoon suggested when he noticed the others walking further.

"I know where they are going, it's fine. Tell me what you saw."

"Oh, just…that." Changyoon pointed at a small bracelet behind glass. 

It was made of leather and had small engravings in the band resembling fauna. He recognised some of the leaves from a previous forest they lived in, the first tribe he remembered.

"Looks cool," Minkyun remarked, "want to go in and check?"

"No. You explained how money worked yesterday and this seems to cost a lot, since there are two numbers, so it's fine," Changyoon declined and walked past the other to join the group again.

After ample swearing from Hyojin and gentle guiding from Minkyun, they finally arrived at a clothes store.

"Alright, pick out two shirts and a pair of pants," Minkyun said.

"Really?!" Hyojin asked in surprise, "isn't that a bit much?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine."

Hyojin didn't seem to share that mindset but he accepted anyway and went to trail behind Seungjun, probably because he trusted him the least.

Changyoon had no clue where to start, there was so much around him.  
It wasn't a big store by any means, but it was just something he wasn't used to. Back in the tribe they made their own clothing from whatever material they could find or produce. Most of his clothes were hand-me-downs from older tribe members.

He got shaken out of the memories as Yuto suddenly dragged him away to point at some shirts he had found. Having the youngest be so enthusiastic about this all made Changyoon relax a little. Yuto was always good at analysing things, so him being casual made Changyoon mirror him.

The shift in attitude got Changyoon excited and he quickly found some clothes he liked. Minkyun had to pass by all of them to explain how sizes worked and helped them all through the fitting process.

"This fits well. Right?" Changyoon asked, having put a pair of jeans and a shirt on. He walked out to Minkyun sitting on a chair facing his fitting room. 

"Yeah." But he didn't seem too sure. "The shirt could be a size smaller, though," he added and stood up, "wait here, I'll get a different one."

Doing as told, Changyoon stayed put as Minkyun went into the store again.  
While waiting, Changyoon just stayed in the opening of his fitting room, staring at the mirror lining the wall opposite.  
This really felt weird. Looking at himself in a human store, in human clothes… he really didn't look any different. Minkyun was right. He looked so…'human'.

"Liking your outfit?" Minkyun hummed when he got back and saw the other just staring at the mirror.

"Huh? Ah, yeah," Changyoon stuttered and was handed the same shirt and switched it out for the one he had currently on. 

It fitted a little better, they concluded, and Changyoon got back into his old clothes.  
He was the last one to finish fitting so with him being done, they went to pay. 

When they got back outside, Minkyun suggested they stop by one other store for them all to get proper walking shoes. By the time they were out again, all dragonborn looked tired from the huge amount of new impressions they had had today.

"Shall we get something to eat?" Hyojin offered as he looked at a big metal band around his wrist, seemingly reading something from it.

"Do we need to get groceries again?" Seungjun asked.

"No,” Hyojin chuckled, “I meant it as in let's go eat out."

"What does that mean?"

"Go to a restaurant?"

"Stop just spouting words at us," Seungjun groaned, having found another new word, "we don't know what ‘TVs’ and ‘restaurants’ are!"

"Well we aren't used to having others _not_ know what a restaurant is," Hyojin gave back, "it's just a place that cooks food for you."

“And then?”

“You eat it.”

With clenched teeth, Seungjun tried to not start screaming in the middle of this street. “I know what to do with food, but why would they cook for you?”

“We cook for you all the time and you don't question us either,” Hyojin said, finding fun in getting the other frustrated by not explaining things properly.

“You are impossible,” Seungjun growled and turned to Minkyun, hoping he was more cooperative.

With a slightly nervous smile Minkyun took over from Hyojin. “It’s just a place you go to to have someone that can make food really well, make you a meal. You have multiple things to choose from and they prepare it for you, you have to pay for it, of course.”

“Everything costs snakes, huh?”

"Snakes?!" Minkyun exclaimed.

"Yes," Seungjun answered, "the snake cards you have."

"What?"

Hyojin put his hand up. "Don't try, Minkyun…"

“Okay…? Shall we just show you a restaurant?” Minkyun said and gestured for everyone to follow him.

Minkyun guided them to a small noodle place that luckily had a place for six. The lights, chattering of people, loud sounds of the kitchen and orders being called overwhelmed Changyoon. He wasn’t the only one, all dragonborn took a second to get used to the impulses. The clothes stores were one thing, but this restaurant was a lot more dizzying. With a soft hand, Minkyun told them all to follow the waiter to the table in the back where it was a lot more quiet. 

“I _so_ don’t get you humans,” Seungjun muttered while looking at his menu in confusion.

“Oh, come one Jun,” Jaeyoung shushed, “it’s fun isn’t it? Learning new things.”

“Who cares, we’re leaving soon anyway. It won't be too long before we can go hunt again. As soon as spring allows us to live in the forest again, we are out."

“But we can have fun while it lasts?”

“You can stay here,” Minkyun chimed in gently.

“We can't—” Seungjun started, but a waiter interrupted him to take their orders. 

Minkyun had tried his best to explain certain flavours and ingredients to the others but he was happy that there was a member of staff here, with better knowledge, to help them. He did seem a bit confused why four grown adults asked the most basic of questions about—for humans—common vegetables, but he kept his professionalism and answered everything properly.  
It hadn’t been too long since they learnt to eat with chopsticks. Jaeyoung and Changyoon still struggled a fair bit, but Seungjun and Yuto had gotten the hang of it without much trouble.  
Even with the previous criticism, Seungjun still used his cutlery as told after everyone got a short and teasing explanation from Hyojin on how to use the spoon given. The waiter slightly giggled when he heard half of Hyojin’s explanation as he gave everyone their hot bowl of soup.

“Jaeyoung, can you pass me a napkin?” Yuto asked from across the table before he had started on his meal.

By stretching his arm to hand over the request, Jaeyoung accidently bumped into Changyoon. The chain reaction caused Changyoon to hit his own bowl and he spilled some of the boiling hot liquid over his arm on the other side. He hissed at the painful temperature and his skin flared up.

It hurt.

But the pain almost instantly evaporated as two hands found themselves on Changyoon’s cheeks and his head got turned in Minkyun's direction.

“Your scales,” he whispered softly.

Changyoon felt that the skin of his cheek’s was rough and he shifted his eyes to his arms, finding them decorated in yellow. Hoping no one saw them, he put them under the table.

“Yoon, get rid of them,” Seungjun rushed.

“I’m trying,” Changyoon gave back.

“Try harder.”

“Shut up.”

Changyoon closed his eyes to focus on calming himself, but his attention kept fixating on the hands placed on his cheeks. He couldn’t tell if it were Minkyun’s hands or his cheeks that were burning. His heart pounded and he got more frustrated at the lack of control. Opening his eyes again, it only got worse. Minkyun’s deep eyes stared at him. He moved closer with concern. Changyoon lost all the focus he had accumulated and his body started burning. The strong gaze scanned him and he grew anxious.

“Changyoon, are you alright?” Minkyun asked.

“What?”

While speaking, Changyoon noticed his fangs were now out. He quickly slapped the hands off him and ducked the opposite way staring at the floor in hopes of calming his mind.  
Jaeyoung’s kind hand then warmed his back and Changyoon tried to make it a focal point.

The clip of Minkyun inching closer played through his mind over and over. It wasn't a fear that kept his blood rushing, he didn't know what was the cause.

Using the hand on his spine as a centre point, he calmed down and finally regained his human form, slowly sitting back up after a few breaths.

Seungjun scanned him. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I think so. I just...panicked.”

“Why?” Hyojin spoke up, his tone sharp, "don't do that shit in public."

“I don’t know. I'm sorry," Changyoon apologised, "but I’m fine now, let’s just continue eating.”

Even though the others resumed their meal, so as to not make this a scene, he zoned out the entire time. He wondered what happened. Why he lost the control.  
Even with his dragonborn form having the tendency to flare up more easily in comparison to the others in the group, he always got the reins back quickly.  
He figured he must have just been tired, today was a lot of new information.  
His mind was just exhausted...

“It’s getting colder outside,” Minkyun shivered as they left the restaurant, “winter is right around the corner it seems.”

“True,” Changyoon answered, rubbing his arms to try and warm them up a little.

Minkyun purposefully slowed his pace while walking next to Changyoon, who noticed and curiously matched the meandering, letting the others go on ahead. They didn’t notice the distance largen as Jaeyoung and Yuto were mostly busy trying to stop Hyojin from lynching Seungjun for whatever he said or did this time.

“Are you really alright?” Minkyun asked in a near whisper.

“Yeah. I’m fine, I swear.”

“I’m sorry for suddenly grabbing your face. I just wanted to cover up the scales.”

“No need to apologise," Chanyoon assured, "it was the right thing to do. I didn’t notice them coming out.”

Minkyun chuckled a bit. “But I’m more apologising for making you panic.”

“That's okay,” Changyoon mumbled.

"Are you really going to leave soon?" Minkyun mumbled after a short silence.

"Probably. We should at least. It's nice here, but I don't want to intrude any longer than absolutely needed," Changyoon explained.

"You can stay."

"I wish I could."

“You can,” Miunkyun repeated.

“Hyojin doesn’t seem to agree,” Changyoon remarked, hearing another rebuttal spouted from the argument happening a few paces in front, “and he is right.”

“Hyojin is just stuck up, don’t mind him. Besides, he hasn’t been this talkative ever since I met him. I’m sure he doesn’t mind you being here either.”

“We cannot stay.”

“Why?”

“Why do you want us to stay so badly?” Changyoon questioned back.

“Because…” Minkyun moved his head away, looking to the other side of the dimly lit street, “I just… enjoy your company.”

“You have Hyojin with you, don’t you?” Changyoon joked to ease the sudden tension a little.

“It’s different.”

“Because we are dragonborn?”

Minkyun laughed to himself a little. “That’s not what I meant…”

“Anyway, we shouldn’t associate more than needed,” Changyoon said quickly, feeling a strange nervousness, “It’ll be dangerous if anyone finds out.”

“Changyoon, you’re walking in the middle of a town with 3 others of your kind, no one is even looking our way,” Minkyun argued, “and if they are, they are more trying to witness the potential murder of either Hyojin or Seungjun.” 

“We are leaving when we can, I’m sorry, but it’s for your own good,” Changyoon cut the conversation short.  
So as to not let Minkyun get another word in, he hurried back to the group to stop the verbal war going on, which still lasted until they got home and parted ways to go to bed.

—————————————

Somehow, Changyoon had expected the hunters to show up much sooner, but they still weren't here nor showed any signs. He didn't know if it was reassuring or meant that it would be worse next time. But for now, they just did their daily tasks. 

They all got the hang of their own jobs quickly. Yuto was mostly used to help treat the earth, as everything was harvested for winter already. Changyoon had built up a pretty good bond with the horses while taking care of them, and Jaeyoung offered his assistance with any heavy lifting. Seungjun was mostly gone, but they had secretly found out that he spent his time at Hyojin's. 

Today too, Changyoon found himself in the stables. He had just finished brushing and feeding all the horses when Minkyun peeked his head past the door.

“Hey,” he said shortly.

“Hey, I just finished.”

“You’ve gotten handy,” Minkyun complimented.

Changyoon felt proud of his own adaptability. He casually let a hand brush the side of Sora’s neck as he hung over the stable door.

Minkyun stepped closer and leaned his weight onto the door next to him. “Do you want to help exercise them?”

“Do they need to go to the fields?”

“I meant in a different way. They are outside enough and you’ve seen me walk them before right? In the paddock with the long lead?”

“Oh, yeah, true.”

“But you can also exercise them by riding them.”

“How?”

“Well,” Minkyun sang, “Do you want to ride one?”

While he had agreed, Changyoon suddenly feared the animal again now that he was standing next to it. Minkyun had quickly shown him how to get the saddle on and had taken Sora with him on a long leadrope. 

“What are you doing?” Yuto asked curiously while standing on the other side of the paddock fence.

“I’m showing Changyoon how to ride a horse!” Minkyun yelled back. 

At that information, Yuto looked rather confused, “You can ride those things?”

Minkyun just smiled, not feeling like giving the same explanation he had just given Changyoon after he had asked the same question.

“Alright,” he continued and turned himself towards Changyoon, “I don’t really wear a riding cap anymore but you should, just in case.”

“What?” Changyoon asked, but he was only answered by some helmet being fitted on his head and clicked shut under his chin. Minkyun checked if it was all fitted properly and then turned towards Sora.

“So, these are stirrups,” Minkyun informed and pulled down two metal things, letting them dangle next to the saddle. 

Changyoon tried his best to concentrate on whatever he was told. Minkyun ranted about multiple things, like how to measure the length the stirrups should be and giving a few warnings and tips for when Changyoon would mount the horse.

“I _actually_ have to sit on it?”

“Yes, it’s fun. Don’t be afraid.”

Such words rarely take away any worry, but Changyoon tried to take them to heart and follow Minkyun’s instructions. Sora wasn’t that big of a horse, but to Changyoon he seemed massive, he was broad and heavy, Changyoon had felt as much when the horse accidentally stepped on his foot once. He hesitated climbing the animal but Minkyun encouraged him once again so he took a deep breath.

Minkyun had given him a small step stool to aid his ascent. He held his eyes closed until he was properly seated. Carefully, he took in the view from higher up. It didn’t look as contrasting as he expected, but it somehow felt freeing in a way different from flying. Feeling such a powerful animal underneath him, feeling its heat and movements as it impatiently took a step, just felt exciting. 

Even if he was a little more relaxed and the fear quickly left him, he still held onto the saddle tightly.

“Relax your muscles but keep your back straight, you’ll be most stable that way,” Minkyun advised while holding Sora from setting another step, “are you comfortable?”

“Uhm… I think?”

The unsureness made Minkyun giggle and he grabbed Changyoon’s leg to wiggle him about. “Relax,” he hummed.

The contact only made Changyoon tense up further, but the bright smile he was shown soon after did ease him a little. Minkyun let him go and set a gentle walking pace.

As soon as Minkyun passed Sora, the horse started to follow. Changyoon tried his best to keep his balance as the first step was taken. He fell backwards slightly but kept his grip in the front of the saddle.  
It didn't take long before the steps became rhythmic and Changyoon settled down somewhat.

“Use your pelvis to follow the movement, try and keep your upper body static,” Minkyun told him and Changyoon tried his best to follow that.

Yuto let out a short, slightly teasing, cheer from the other side of the fence. Paying it no mind, Changyoon kept his focus on the horse and its movements.  
Throughout the multiple rounds in the paddock, Changyoon was taught all sorts of things about how to sit properly and how to hold reins. Minkyun told fun anecdotes about the horses and his adventures with them through the forest, saying he hoped that one day—when Changyoon had enough experience—he would join him. The way Minkyun spoke about the magical feeling of galloping through fields made Changyoon actually excited to learn.

But that future vision was something that Changyoon knew shouldn't come true. 

“You’re doing well,” Minkyun said, seeing Changyoon relax. 

He swayed with every one of the horse’s steps, and even sudden turns didn’t throw him off balance. After being taken around the paddock a few more times, even being cheered on by Jaeyoung—who joined Yuto when he had finished his tasks— did Minkyun guide Sora back to the centre.

“Shall we get you off?” he suggested, “I’ll teach you more next time.”

Changyoon nodded and was told how to get down. Even with the instructions and warnings, he still misjudged the distance to the ground and stumbled when he hit it later than expected. Sora jumped slightly at the sudden moves next to him but Minkyun calmed him instantly. Giggles came from the two-person-audience but Changyoon just joined in and let out a shy chuckle.  
Minkyun said he would continue exercising Sora some more and invited Changyoon to teach him how to use the long lead rope he had brought as well.  
Changyoon still felt a little overwhelmed by all the information he had to process previously so he suggested for Yuto to come over. 

Yuto was still a lot more clunky with the horses and it looked funny seeing him try to control Sora while the horse walked in a big circle around him and Minkyun.

“Changyoon,” Jaeyoung started when Changyoon took Yuto’s previous place next to him, “Isn’t it way safer to stay here in the end?”

“You too?" he wondered, remembering Seungjun's words from the other night. "Look, for you guys, maybe it is. But I don’t want to bring trouble...”

"What 'me too'?"

"Seungjun said the same thing not too long ago."

"Seungjun did?"

"Yes, but I reminded him this shelter isn't safe for me."

“Don’t be so afraid.”

“I don’t want to accidentally blow up Minkyun’s house, alright? And you know that that is a valid fear for me to have.”

“I know, but it’s only winter. It doesn’t happen often then.”

“But the chance is never zero,” Changyoon argued in a sharp tone, letting Jaeyoung know he wasn’t up for reasoning.

“That horse might be stronger than you,” Yuto joked when he came back to them.

Minkyun kept in the middle, setting the horse on a gentle canter for a bit.

“I doubt that.” Jaeyoung narrowed his eyes making Changyoon poke him with his elbow. “Please don’t go challenge a horse…”

Jaeyoung scoffed. “Why not?” he said to start their argument. Yuto kept mocking that Sora could definitely lift more. While Jaeyoung wasn’t really bugged by it, he humoured the other anyway by engaging in the debate. Changyoon left the conversation quickly and just watched the majestic animal do its rounds.

Minkyun slowly took his time exercising all the horses, putting them back in the stable and leading them next to the paddock. It was a bit of a roundabout way, he himself agreed to that. Normally he would take long rides with Hyojin, occasionally take Cya with them on a lead as well and rotate between the horses with every ride. But Hyojin was too busy for that and with the cold it wasn’t as inviting to go out every other day, so this was the other solution.

The stomping of hooves continued. Jaeyoung and Yuto eventually left to round up some other things and huddle in the warmth of the main house. Changyoon, however, stayed to watch. Minkyun smiled at him every so often as the horse plodded past. He hadn’t felt this free in years. The soft sounds of the wind through the farm, making the stables creak every so often. A cat sat next to him on one of the fence poles to stare with him. Changyoon let his vision pass over the fields surrounding the paddock. Most of the crop fields were right next to the paddock, but behind it were just grassy hills. Even though he had been here for days now, it nearly felt like the first time he took in the open space.  
For years now he had been underneath dense fauna, hiding in the darkness. He already noticed previously, yet it still amazed him how far the views could stretch. With his previous forest to the right, the open hills in front and the edge of town in the distance to the left—it really felt like a haven between two worlds. Listening to the sounds of his surroundings, he let the fence carry his weight and closed his eyes, dozing off underneath the peace.

“Hey Changyoon,” Minkyun hummed softly.

The warm breath of Ace blew against Changyoon’s face as the horse pushed its nose against him.

“Hm?” Changyoon said, waking up from the daydream he was having.

“I’m done for today, let’s clean up and go to dinner. Hyojin already went to cook, I saw.”

“Alright, shall I see if I can help him?”

“Could you… join me for a bit?” Minkyun said softly.

After giving a nod, Changyoon followed him and Ace to the stables and waited for Minkyun to have put everything away.

“What did you need me for?” Changyoon asked when he was given no orders.

“I… wanted to give you something.”

“What?”

Minkyun rummaged in the big coat he was wearing and got out a slim box. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“Open it!”

With a careful touch, Changyoon pried the lid open.  
Underneath weird crispy paper, soft brown leather hid.

“Wait…” Changyoon mumbled when he recognized the engraving on the leather band, “this is that…”

“Yepp,” a beaming smile confirmed.

“Why did you? When?” 

Somehow, he didn’t dare get the band out, he wasn’t sure what to do with it. Their tribe stopped wasting materials on accessories when they started running low on them. This little bracelet seemed like something precious, luxurious.

“I went for an errand this morning and picked it up along the way.”

“But why?”

“Because… you seemed to like it?”

“I do, it’s pretty but... I didn’t do anything?” Changyoon asked, not understanding why he received this.

“I just wanted to make you happy.”

“You’re already providing us with shelter, you shouldn’t do more.”

“Just accept it,” Minkyun pushed. 

He gently took the box from Changyoon and got the contents out. “Give me your wrist.”

The other laughed at the statement. “first time you asked,” he said awkwardly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Minkyun answered and draped the bracelet around the other’s wrist, tying it close with small but strong leather rope. “How is it?”

“Pretty,” Changyoon breathed, “It really reminds me of home.”

“Home?”

“Yeah… we had such plants around one of the first tribes,” Changyoon reminisced, “we didn't stay there for long, but it’s the longest home I’ve had.” His eyes fixated on the leaves burned into the leather. 

It brought him back. It really had been a long couple of years. So many lives lost, so many family members returned to the earth. He was grateful that he managed to get out with his friends, but he wished he never had to move on from anyone. It had been a while since he had heard his parent’s voices or the laughter of the tribe's children was heard. Maybe he missed the scoldings of the elders. Everything was torn to pieces quicker than he could process.  
The engravings felt like a reminder. He wasn’t human. No matter the clothes he wore or how human he appeared. He couldn’t stay here.

“Is everything alright?” Minkyun asked when Changyoon fell silent.

“Yeah, thank you,” Changyoon smiled, “really.”

Minkyun seemed to hold his breath suddenly. “That’s—that’s good.”

The air filled with a sudden tension Changyoon couldn’t place, he wondered if he said something bad. Minkyun just stared at him, expectantly, but Changyoon had no idea how to answer the gaze.

“Say…” Minkyun said suddenly, his voice had an odd waver, “have you—...do you kno—...”

“What?”

Minkyun looked to the ground, seemingly looking for words. “No, it’s fine. Never mind,” he mumbled suddenly before looking up again, “shall we go eat?”

“What’s wrong?” Changyoon pushed anyway.

The question was brushed off. “Nothing. Come, let’s eat.” 

Before Changyoon could ask anything else, Minkyun quickly exited the stable. A bit bemused, the other followed, wondering what the unsaid words were.

The sun steadily set and the orange glow welcomed the evening. 

“You’ve actually learned well,” Hyojin said, going over the sheet Seungjun had filled in.

Hyojin still gave him the simplest of calculations, and sometimes even ones he didn’t need anymore, but anything to keep Seungjun quiet. The blond had taken a liking to being here, and it wasn’t like Hyojin could keep him out anyway. Most times he would be jumpscared by Seungjun wandering through a wall.  
While it did liven up his office, it also really distracted him. Seungjun was like a cat that purposefully sits on whatever project you're working on, just to annoy you and get your attention.  
Hyojin made sure not to get too used to the company. The mishap of yesterday's dinner drove home the fact that they should leave soon, before any problems would come their way. Minkyun’s quick thinking was relieving, but Hyojin had a bad feeling about whatever happened after.

“Come, get up,” Hyojin said to snap Seungjun out of his concentration.

“Why?” the blond asked in return. He stretched himself and got out of the rather impressively uncomfortable position he had created on the sofa chair.

“I have to prepare dinner.”

“Let me finish this first.”

“No, I’m not letting you alone in my office.”

“It won’t take long,” Seungjun promised.

“Leave your ‘snake calculations’ and come with me,” Hyojin persisted mockingly.

With a loud groan, Seungjun joined him and they quickly found themselves in the kitchen. Hyojin shooed the other to sit in the living room so he at least had his peace of mind behind the stove. His quiet time didn’t last long, Minkyun and the others walked in soon after. 

"Hey, Hyojin…" Minkyun asked in a weird tone, it was too soft.

"Hey… is everything alright?"

“Yeah. What are you up to?”

“Cooking. Where are the others?”

“Rotating on showering and washing up.”

“You should too,” Hyojin remarked, looking the other up and down, “ you did a lot of stable work I see.”

Minkyun gave a small chuckle and sat at the dinner table. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“What’s on your mind?” Hyojin asked, he was a bit hesitant about the question.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, you’re bad at lying.”

“Really, it’s nothing…”

“Did anything happen with the animals?”

“No.”

“The dragonborn…?”

Hyojin sighed when the other kept his mouth shut, showing Hyojin had guessed the right answer. “Tell me.”

“It’s no—”

“Tell me.”

Minkyun played with a random crumb on the table and slouched. “Would it be possible to...date…a dragonborn?"

Something in Hyojin wasn’t even surprised. He had seen Minkyun be very friendly with the dragonborn, one of them in particular, too friendly for Hyojin’s liking. "Kyun…don't tell me you've actually—"

"Just asking," Minkyun shrugged and flicked the crumb off the table.

"That's a weird thing to 'just ask'. Did you fall in love with any of them?"

"No..."

"Changyoon?" Hyojin sighed.

"Quiet down. Don't tell him,” Minkyun shushed quickly.

"Of course I won't tell him, because I don't want you two together," the other growled, "forget your feelings, he's going to have to leave."

"Why is he?" The other raised his voice. "They can just stay?! We have the money for guests and they work well."

"I don't think your parents would like it that you are using their fortune to pay for a bunch of creatures."

"Don't fucking use that argument,” Minkyun bit.

“Sorry… Anyway, that's not the point,” Hyojin continued his arguing, “They are hunted. I don't want them bringing trouble our way."

"Exactly, they are hunted and sending them off will be their death."

"Keeping them here might mean _our_ death."

"I'm convincing them to stay."

Hyojin turned off the stove as the food overcooked and stared at Minkyun. "Kyun, you're being dumb," he tried to call out in the nicest way, "I don't care that you like one of them. They need to leave soon."

"Even if I didn't like one of them, I still would've wanted them to stay," Minkyun persisted, "that’s not even the question I came here with. You chasing them out was never even debatable—”

“Is everything alright?” Seungjun asked as he slowly walked into the kitchen, by opening the door, surprisingly—. 

Hyojin turned himself back around to finish dinner while Minkyun went to assure him. They really had to leave soon if _that_ was happening. Every interaction between Minkyun and the yellow scaled dragonborn already made Hyojin nervous. He could read Minkyun well by now but Changyoon was—luckily—oblivious and also terrible at hiding his panic. More so than not wanting them to get together, he just didn’t want Minkyun to develop any bond with them and have his heart broken when they inevitably left. Minkyun had lost enough close people and family, he didn’t want him to also lose someone he was in love with. 

Deciding to strike this topic up again later, Hyojin set the table and called them all to eat. They all bugged Minkyun to watch another movie, so instead of ruining the mood by asking him about his feelings again, Hyojin left Minkyun to fulfill the dragonborn’s request and went back home.

“Why don’t you stay too?” Seungjun asked him.

“I’m not really in the mood. Sorry.”

“Shall I come finish my sheet for a bit?”

Hyojin arched an eyebrow at the offer. “No… that’s fine, go watch your movie.”

“Alright.”

The clouds seemed deep gray when Hyojin stepped foot outside. The wind blew in his hair, bringing him the smell of the grass. It was cold. He wondered if it would snow soon. If that would be over, at least the creatures would leave, everything would be back to normal. Those monsters had ruined one home too many already, he wasn’t going to let them touch this one.

—————————————

“Oh please, no,” Changyoon said to himself when he was woken up by rumbling. He got up and went to the window, checking how long he possibly had. The first flash already lit up the sky, giving its signal. The rumble followed not even seconds after.  
He didn’t have time to change clothes. 

He had to leave the farm.

While trying his best not to wake Minkyun—who was sleeping on the couch—he rushed out of the house. Almost stumbling over his own nerves, he made his way off the property and started cursing to himself as he tried to remember the nearest shelter.  
Time was running out. Lightning flashed again. Fear set in. The sky, painted pure white, signalled the race had long started.

The forest was dangerous, but maybe he could find a cave in time. 

He took too much time.

Electricity was heard, speeding out of the sky before any creature could react. A loud thunderclap made him want to duck down in a reflex. But nothing moved, his muscles stiffened as Zeus’s wrath paralyzed him. Clouds made his brain see nothing but static. His body twitched. His nerves tingled. 

Knees hit the ground. Small sparks came from under his hands as he set them on the grass with what little control he regained.  
The current zapping through every limb forced his claws out. He heard his shirt rip open as his wings cut themselves through the fabric. He started to shake. He had to get away. Now. 

Trying to get his tensing muscles to stretch, he slowly got up. Falling over again when he instantly tried to run. Rain had turned the grassy hills slippery, making standing up more troublesome.  
He cussed again in frustration. His eyes went back to the farm, he wanted safety.

A light had come on inside, the house woken up by the lightning strike. The orange windows looked warm against the grey haze the storm had given the scenery.  
It would be selfish to return.

Fearing the others might go look for him, he focused on standing properly and staggered into a speedy jog.

Another rumble ran through the clouds.

Changyoon fought the urge to turn back, ask for help. The booming sky made him feel small. With the terror, he wanted to crawl into someone's arms. Small ripples of electricity curled around his body, telling him he shouldn’t. His skin was undamaged, his body absorbed it all.  
He tore his vision away from his arms and set his course further into the forest, hoping to find a roof.  
The sky let out another roar and the electricity chased him again. Changyoon rushed to the nearest most open space he saw, at least getting away from the trees. 

It caught him.

He felt like his body was going to explode, his vision turned black and his head hit the ground. The strike soared through his spine and spread out to his limbs. More voltage filled his body. He felt he couldn’t take another. He tried to let his body recover but was soon interrupted.

“Changyoon?!” Minkyun yelled through the rain.

The instant shot of adrenaline made Changyoon turn his body around. A torch shone in his direction. He felt like a scared wolf. A predator fearing for its life.

“Min—kyun…” he muttered under his breath. 

The other’s fluffy black hair was stuck to his face because of the rain and his pajamas were soaked.

“Why are you out?! Are you alright?!” Minkyun asked over the loud sound of the rain and thunder.

“Go away,” Changyoon mumbled. 

Seeing Minkyun, Changyoon wanted to get close, feel safe. But he himself was the danger here. 

“Go away!” he screamed this time, small sparks rose up around him.

He tried his best to get up but the voltage in his muscles made it hard to move. 

Minkyun ignored him “What’s happening to you?!” he exclaimed, scanning the other’s body.

Turning his tone aggressive, he hoped to chase Minkyun off. “Please leave! Now!”

“No, come with me,” Minkyun pushed as he stepped ever closer. Too close. 

Desperately, Changyoon tried to keep his heartbeat steady, keep his nerves at bay. He trembled. His mind wasn’t right. 

Minkyun set another step.

“Leave!” Changyoon screamed and put up his hands. 

He wished he hadn’t. He wished he could chase the strike that left his arm and take it back. A fraction of the energy built up inside him, shot out. Lighting brushed past the one he tried to protect.

It was too late.

Minkyun’s cry ran through the forest, piercing the night. The storm seemed to fade out. Changyoon’s ears rang and he felt dizzy. All his senses stopped. Minkyun fell to the ground.

“Minkyun!!!” Hyojin’s voice came from behind the unconscious body on the dense forest bed. He went to cradle the big figure, enduring the electrical shock that came from it.

Not a single glance was spared for Changyoon. All Hyojin focused on was his friend, trying to make sure he was alright.

Only the dragonborn turned their eyes to Changyoon, but they knew better than to get close. He heard Jaeyoung call his name, but he ignored the plea. 

Without saying another word, he got up and left. He wanted to apologise to everyone, he wanted to care for Minkyun, but knew he couldn’t stay close. He chose to run. 

“No, Minkyun…” 

Hyojin felt a fury rising in him. He wanted to chase the yellow scaled bastard. He hated himself for letting it get this far.

“We should get him treated,” Jaeyoung said hastily, to which Yuto quickly offered to find Changyoon in the meantime before setting off into the forest.

Seungjun crouched down. “Hyo—”

“Fuck off,” Hyojin warned. He was done with these cretins, he had tolerated them long enough. Too long.

“Let us—”

“You’ve done more than enough. Piss off. Right now.”

He didn’t want to look at them. Didn’t want to see them, didn’t want to hear them. Their presence alone made his blood boil. 

"Let us help carry him home," Seungjun said in one breath before he could be interrupted.

"I don't need you!" Hyojin gave back, "get out! Don't ever come back..."

"Hyojin, I'm sorry. We didn't hear the thunder. If we did we would've—"

"I don't care. For the last time, leave." 

His anger made him finally look up. He hated the creatures that met his eyes and took the sting in his heart as destain. The others looked regretful but he didn't care. 

"Hyo—"

"Get. Out."

"We're—"

"Seungjun…" Jaeyoung interrupted the attempt, "let's just go," he said and pulled Seungjun by the arm. A small 'I'm sorry' was breathed before they followed Yuto's tracks.

Hyojin stared at them. The ones that invaded his haven, now running away after ruining it. 

He blinked away frustrated tears and focused his mind. They were out of his life. No more anxious days nor endless arguments. He just had to focus on Minkyun.

Normally, he despised whatever he had inherited from his father. Today, it came in handy as he used it to get Minkyun to town to find a hospital. 

A nurse looked instantly rushed over to help when Hyojin walked in. 

"What happened to him?!"

Changyoon just kept his feet moving. A cave, a dent along a ridge wall—anything that would keep him from lightning, his eyes scanned for.  
Left. Right. He didn't know where his choices would lead, if he was going in circles or if fate would be a little merciful.  
Again the forest flashed white. Another hit brought him to the ground. His skin was freezing under the rain but his insides felt hot with the electricity.

The pain didn't leave. It was maddening. He wanted to give up. Moving hurt so he wanted to stop. His muscles were stiff, the ground was comfortable. Just let it end.

"Will he be alright?!" Hyojin called out when a nurse exited Minkyun's room. 

The hospital had given him a towel to dry himself with and told him to stay in the waiting room. 

"We cannot say so for certain," she answered kindly, "it was mostly his left arm which was hit. We cannot assess all nerve damage yet, however."

Hyojin felt his throat clog up and the hatred for the beasts only rose. He knew Minkyun wasn't unscathed, but hearing he would at least be alright would have settled his mind.

"How did this happen?" the nurse asked as she took Hyojin to fill in some paperwork.

"I... don't know," Hyojin lied. He couldn't think of an excuse and he wasn't going to say they had been living with dragonborn.  
"He went out and I found him like this." Technically, that was the truth.

The nurse hummed in response and talked Hyojin through some things before asking if he could make it home alright. 

Just let it end. Just be done with it all. Changyoon was surprised at his own pathetic mind. His hands moved over the wet ground and steadied him. With what little determination he had left, he pushed himself back up and continued his run. If anything, he wanted to stay alive to see if Minkyun was alright. 

More trees that led a path to nowhere. He wondered how long he had been running, how long he could still run.  
Eventually, fate seemed to humour him and a small ridge came in view. A break in the rocks became his new home. It was a lot less inviting than the soft colours of Minkyun's living room. But that was a place he couldn't return ever again, kicked out of heaven.

Not knowing if the cave within the ridge was inhabited, he ran in, far enough to be safe.  
He let his body drop to the cold stone flooring, the echo bouncing through the cavern. Lightning threatened again.  
He curled up, a fearful creature insecure what its future would entail. If his future could be promising, or short-lived. 

For now, he waited out the storm.

The house was quiet. Traces of them still remained, the beds looked used and there were multiple cups on the sofa table. Hyojin quickly went to clean everything up, remove any detail. He kept trying to convince himself Minkyun would be alright, that he would wake up and be home again soon.

It felt like every sound was echoing, the rooms were too spacious to Hyojin. He hated being alone. Only Somang's small pitter patters filled the silence a little. With the storm, she kept inside. 

Hyojin didn't feel like sleeping, he knew he couldn't even if he tried. He sat on the couch, wondering how he would spend these few days alone. The hospital had told him they would call once there was news or Minkyun would wake up. For now, he just had to figure out how to run the entire farm alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was long overdue :]
> 
> also this is panning out to be way longer than anticipated so i'll just see where this will go with time.
> 
> Thank you to my betareaders as always~~

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I'm starting this, I'm so nervous about this story ;--;
> 
> Let me know if this is at all interesting :]
> 
> I'm not sure how many chapters itll have, im aiming for 3
> 
> hmu!! TWT: [FaeFauna](https://twitter.com/Faefauna) (18+) 
> 
> (thanks so much for Phi and GG for beta reading this. I don't deserve y'all)


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